TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo Prime Minist...

TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to visit Seoul to attend southern Korean President-elect Roh Moo Hyun's inauguration in succession Feb. 25, government sources said Monday.

The sources said the Japanese control is arranging a bilateral meeting between Koizumi and Roh to coordinate policy onward North Korea and to discuss bilateral ties.

Japan and toward the south Korea, together with the United States, are members up of a trilateral consultation proces to coordinate policy upon North Korea, which has emerg as the focal point of regional unease following its pullout of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty last week.

Roh has vowed to continue outgoing President Kim Dae Jung's ''sunshine'' policy of engagement with North Korea, a policy which has reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point into friction with U.S. President George W Bush's hard-line approach above North Korea's nuclear issue.

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