SEOUL - JAPANESE Prime Minister Taro Aso will visit South Korea in January for summit talks with President Lee Myung-Bak, Seoul announced on Wednesday.

Mr Aso will arrive on Jan 11 and leave the following day, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan told reporters.

The two leaders will hold a joint news conference after their summit and Mr Aso will also meet business leaders.

Mr Lee and Mr Aso last met at a trilateral summit also involving China and held in Japan on Dec 13. The three nations pledged efforts to raise funds to spare Asia the worst of the global economic crisis.

They also called for renewed efforts to end North Korea's nuclear drive after the latest round of six-nation negotiations ended without agreement.

For several years until 2006 China and South Korea refused high-level meetings with Japan over disputes related to its aggression in Asia in the first half of the 20th century.

South Korea, which suffered under harsh Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45, says it is now seeking a 'close cooperative relationship.' But tensions still arise over Japan's claim to islands administered by South Korea.

Seoul said on Sunday it has protested to Tokyo over a Japanese publicity campaign laying claim to the islands, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japan.

Mr Aso, who took office in September, will be making his first visit to Seoul as prime minister. -- AFP