U.S. President Bill Clinton will arrive in Tokyo Thursday afternoon for a two-day visit, instead of arriving early in the morning as originally scheduled, a top government spokesman said Tuesday.
Due to tensions in the Persian Gulf, Clinton canceled his trip to the leaders meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which started Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. He will fly directly to Tokyo from the U.S. and will leave Japan on Friday evening for Seoul, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka told a regular news conference. "Although he canceled his trip to the meeting of APEC leaders, he decided to come to Japan," Nonaka said. "We would like to welcome his visit."
Clinton will hold talks with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi Friday afternoon. Issues that are likely to top the agenda at the summit include security issues in northeastern Asia, particularly over North Korea, and international cooperation of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development (KEDO), an international consortium providing two nuclear reactors to North Korea, according to foreign ministry officials.