Abe to visit Russia (and he will meet Putin, may meet Xi, won’t meet Kim)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he would attend a regional economic forum to be held in the Russian Far East port city of Vladivostok next week and have a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Abe said he was also arranging separate meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak Yon and Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum scheduled for September 11 to 13.

The prime minister expressed his determination to push forward talks on joint economic activities on the Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido during his meeting with the Russian leader.

Tokyo sees the activities as a path towards a resolution of the territorial row over the islands and to a possible signing of a post-war peace treaty, while Moscow looks to attract Japanese investment on the islands.

Abe was looking to have a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, if he attended the forum, in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough over the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North decades ago. But the Russian government said the North’s leader will not take part.