Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday he wants to hold summit talks with South Korea as early as possible. Abe said he hoped to hold talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun «at the earliest possible time.» Earlier Thursday, the two leaders agreed to hold a meeting soon for the first time in nearly a year to smooth over tense relations, the two governments announced. Such a meeting would be a breakthrough for the two neighbors, who still struggle to overcome bitter memories in South Korea over Japan's harsh 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, the Associated Press reported.
