Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will pay a two-day visit to South Korea next week and hold talks with President Roh Moo-Hyun, the Japanese government said Tuesday.

Koizumi will travel to the Cheju Island on next Wednesday and Thursday. The two leaders are expected to talk about bilateral relations and the Korean Peninsular situation, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.

This will be the fourth summit meeting between Koizumi and Roh. The premier attended Roh's inauguration ceremony last February. Roh paid a visit to Tokyo four months later and signed a joint statement in which they vowed to push forward economic and cultural exchanges. The two leaders also met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok last October.

But relationship was later troubled by Koizumi's visit in January to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors Japan's war-dead, including war criminals of World War II. South Korea once suffered from Japan's cruel colonial rule.

The upcoming visit apparently serves as a fence-mending tour as the two countries will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations next year. Bilateral efforts are under way to close a free trade agreement.