Japan's Abe for North Asia summits

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe leaves today for summits with Chinese and South Korean leaders at which he will seek a thaw in ties chilled by the wartime past, and consult on North Korea's nuclear threat.

Abe, 52, who will be making his first overseas visit since taking office on September 26, meets Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders in Beijing today, and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Seoul the next day.

Beijing and Seoul refused summits with Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, because of his pilgrimages to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as glorifying Japan's past militarism.

Abe, Japan's first premier born after World War II, is a conservative who wants to restore Japan's sense of national pride, and has defended Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni. Abe has also paid his respects there in the past, and declined to say whether he would do so again while in office.

Mending ties would make it easier for the three countries to address North Korea's threat to conduct a nuclear test, an issue certain to be high on the agenda at the two summits.