Japan, South Korea to discuss defence ties, North Korea

Japanese and South Korean defence ministers will meet next week in Seoul to discuss boosting  military ties in the wake of deadly attacks from North Korea, a South Korean official said on Tuesday.

But Japan's Toshimi Kitazawa and his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin have no plans to sign a joint statement on security cooperation when they meet on January 10, the defence ministry official said.

"They aim to discuss national security issues of interest to both sides including defence exchange and cooperation," the official said. "North Korea's nuclear programme and the attack on Yeonpyeong will also be raised."

The planned meeting between defence chiefs comes in response to heightened tension on the Korean peninsula after the North attacked a Southern island in November, killing four people and triggering threats of war and counterstrike from both sides.

South Korea also accuses the North of torpedoing one of its navy ships in March killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang denies it.

Earlier on Tuesday, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said the sensitive issue of security cooperation would be the centrepiece of a joint statement the two countries are  considering issuing as early as this spring.

Officials at South Korea's and Japan's foreign ministries dismissed the possibility of an imminent joint statement on  security threats.

Japan aims to strengthen security cooperation with Seoul in addition to its ties with Washington, its closest ally. South Korean military officers participated as observers in a joint military exercise between Japan and the United States last month, the first time they have done so.

Talks on defence cooperation are not guaranteed to proceed smoothly, as there remains resentment in South Korea of  Japan's 1910-45 colonisation of the peninsula. In a sign of sensitivity over the topic, Japanese foreign minister Seiji Maehara denied on Monday he had told a South Korean newspaper  he hoped Tokyo would form a security alliance with Seoul.

Maehara is expected to visit Seoul this month to discuss  the next international steps to rein in North Korea's nuclear  ambitions.