Hatoyama on way to COP15 climate talks

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama left Thursday afternoon to attend a meeting of state leaders at the ongoing U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.

While in the Danish capital, he is also expected to hold bilateral talks with some counterparts also attending the 15th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The so-called COP15 is aimed at producing a political deal to set the outlines of a new legal framework to combat climate change, after the first commitment period for developed countries under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

Leaders from about 110 countries, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, are scheduled to take part in the meeting.

Hatoyama is set to return to Tokyo on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile earlier Thursday Hatoyama said he has not decided when he will give prosecutors a written statement about the irregularities in his political funding reports.