Sawt Falasteen - Outgoing Japan PM heads to Seoul hoping warmer ties outlast him

The two nations, both key security allies of the United States, have long been at odds over historical issues linked to Japan's brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, including sexual slavery and forced labour.

But South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has moved to bury the hatchet in recent years, restarting regular talks with Kishida and ramping up military cooperation in the face of rising threats from the nuclear-armed North.

"Prime Minister Kishida hopes to convey that Japan's diplomatic policy of focusing on South Korea will remain unchanged after he leaves office," Japan's national broadcaster NHK said this week.

Kishida's trip -- his 12th summit with Yoon -- is also a bid to "pave the way for a continued improvement in Japan-South Korea relations", NHK added.

Kishida has said he will not seek re-election as leader of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when his tenure expires this month.

The conservative LDP is expected to decide on a new leader on September 27.

- 'Important opportunity' -

Seoul said the two leaders plan to "discuss the future direction of Korea-Japan cooperation, regional cooperation, and global cooperation".

Yoshimasa Hayashi, Tokyo's top government spokesman, said the final meeting would be an "important opportunity" for the two leaders to discuss boosting cooperation and strengthening ties.

Japanese media reported that Kishida may also make a final visit to Washington before stepping down.

Kishida's visit, which comes three weeks before his term ends, shows his "willingness and action to continue the momentum of improving relations between the two countries", Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies told AFP.

The visit "will be a message to the next prime minister to continue these efforts", he said.

But some South Korean lawmakers were critical of the visit, saying it is a waste of time and money.

Yoon is "throwing a resignation party (for Kishida) in the middle of Seoul at this juncture, with taxpayer's money", lawmaker and former spy chief Park Jie-won wrote on Facebook.

Yoon's administration was also criticised heavily in July after a network of mines on a Japanese island infamous for using conscripted wartime labour was added to UNESCO's World Heritage register after South Korea dropped earlier objections to its listing.

Critics claimed the South Korean president was "endorsing Japan's distortion of war crimes".

N.Shalabi--SF-PST