Japan yesterday grappled with the fallout from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Tokyo war shrine, seen by many in Asia as a sign of the nation's past militarism.

As the Foreign Ministry reportedly worked to arrange a summit to mend frayed relations with China and South Korea, police linked a right-wing extremist to an arson attack against a Koizumi critic.

The blaze, late Tuesday, destroyed the house and adjoining office of lawmaker Koichi Kato, who had spoken out against Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine earlier in the day.

Police said yesterday that the suspect in the attack, a 65-year-old Tokyo man who was found in the building suffering from an apparently self-inflicted abdominal wound, was a member of a Tokyo-based right-wing group.

Meanwhile a separate report said Japan's Foreign Ministry was trying to arrange a summit with China and South Korea by the year's end to improve relations that were further undermined by Koizumi's shrine pilgrimage.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Noriyuki Shikata said it was premature to nail down details but that Tokyo is interested in improving relations with its neighbours and that "there could be efforts along these lines."

Koizumi, who intends to step down next month, dealt a blow to Japan's ties with its neighbours on Tuesday by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the especially symbolic date of August 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in the Second World War.

The Yomiuri newspaper, without citing sources, said the Foreign Ministry was aiming for a meeting between Koizumi's successor and leaders of the other countries on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum (APEC) summit in November or a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) the following month.

Koizumi made his pilgrimage to the shrine despite complaints from China and South Korea and several days of demonstrations in Tokyo by those who feel the shrine glorifies Japanese militarism. It was his sixth visit there since taking office in 2001.

The pilgrimage brought immediate rebukes from Beijing and Seoul, while the US State Department urged the three nations to work harder to "build good, constructive, neighbourly, transparent relations."

Koizumi is scheduled to leave office at the end of September, which means his successor likely Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe will start his term with fresh diplomatic troubles on his hands.

"The Koizumi government will come to an end. For the Chinese side also, there is nothing good about prolonging this problem," a Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying by Yomiuri.

Because Koizumi's successor has not yet been decided and his foreign policy priorities have yet to be set, it is too early to arrange summit meetings, Shikata said. But multilateral meetings are good forums for such summits, he added.

"As a government policy, it is certain that the prime minister will change and we hope there will be close dialogue at the summit level," said Shikata.

South Korea said Wednesday there won't be a summit with Japan while leaders continue to visit the shrine.

"Whoever becomes the next Japanese prime minister, we maintain our position that we expect Japan to show with actions its efforts to earn the trust of the international community," Seo Joo-seok, the chief presidential security aide, said in interview with KBS radio. "This is also the case with the issue of visiting Yasukuni Shrine."

Seo said there have not been detailed discussions about holding a summit on the sidelines of the APEC or ASEAN meetings.

Source: China Daily