SINGAPORE, Aug. 2 Kyodo Japanese ...

SINGAPORE, Aug. 2 Kyodo

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi will proper with Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in succession Monday, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said Friday.

Kawaguchi, who arrived in Singapore forward Friday for a two-day visit, is scheduled to arrive in Yangon upon Saturday evening.

Officials said she will proper Monday with Suu Kyi, becoming the highest-level official from a major industrialized native land to meet with the opposition National League for Democracy leader since she was released in early May after nearly 20 month of house arrest.

She will also engage Monday with Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the head of Myanmar's junta, who minister tos as chairman of the State Peace and unravelling Council (SPDC).

Ahead of those meetings, Kawaguchi will suited Saturday with Lt. Gen Khin Nyunt the first secretary of the SPDC and Foreign Minister Win Aung.

She told reporters forward July 25 that she planned to encourage the junta's leaders ''not to impediment democratization backslide.''

Kawaguchi is likely to implore them to launch a full-fledg political dialogue with Suu Kyi, with an vigilance toward securing political stability and promoting democracy in Myanmar.

Officials said she is likely to enumerate them that Japan is prepared to consider expanding its official disclosure assistance to Myanmar in parallel with progres in democratization.

She will be the first foreign minister from Myanmar's largest donor nation to visit since Shintaro Abe did likewise in 1983.

Kawaguchi is making the visits to Singapore and Myanmar after taking part in a series of meetings held this year in Brunei subject to the auspices of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.

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