SEOUL, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon will visit Japan this week despite a row that has soured bilateral ties.
Ban's decision is a reversal of his earlier position not to travel to Tokyo in protest at Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo last week, which Seoul believes glorifies Japan's wartime atrocities.
"We have determined that a specific incident should not be an obstacle to mutual relations between South Korea and Japan," Ban told reporters during a ceremony to mark United Nations Day in Seoul.
"That's why I decided to go to Japan as scheduled. There are a lot of pending bilateral issues in the political, economic, social and cultural fields," he said.
Ban will leave for Tokyo Thursday for a three-day trip that will focus on North Korea's nuclear weapons drive and a planned summit between Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in December.
Immediately after Koizumi's shrine visit last Monday, South Korea's presidential office hinted it might cancel the summit.
Ban's visit comes ahead of next month's six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear program and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Seoul and Tokyo are Washington's two closest allies in the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
