Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said he will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon for "brief talks" Wednesday morning in Tokyo.

"I believe what is important for us is to sit down and discuss each other's views, so I am looking forward to meeting him even if it will just be for a short time," Abe said Monday.

The top government spokesman made the remarks in response to questions regarding news reports about the meeting.

Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday that Ban would meet with Abe to urge him not to visit Yasukuni Shrine. Ban is scheduled to be in Japan from Monday through Wednesday as Seoul's delegate to attend the Tuesday funeral of former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

Yonhap quoted South Korean Foreign Ministry officials as saying Ban will convey that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Shinto shrine last October hurt bilateral relations and that Seoul hopes Abe, the front-runner to succeed Koizumi, will change the situation.

Abe reportedly visited Yasukuni on April 15. Neither Koizumi nor Abe has said whether they will visit Yasukuni on Aug. 15.

China willing to meet

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China is willing to hold foreign ministerial talks with Japan, saying the two sides could meet in Beijing.

On a visit to Tokyo, Liu reiterated Beijing's opposition to visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese leaders, following media reports last week that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe visited the shrine in April.

"It is compatible with the interests of both the Chinese and Japanese peoples for Japanese leaders to immediately stop paying visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals are honored, and to address the problem with the right perspective on history," Liu said.