Obama to host meeting of Japanese and South Korean leaders next week in Europe

TOKYO – Japan says its leader will meet his South Korean counterpart at a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama in Europe next week.

It will be the first meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye since they both took office more than a year ago.

All three leaders will be at a Nuclear Security Summit on Monday and Tuesday in The Hague, Netherlands. At their three-way meeting, they are expected to discuss nuclear nonproliferation and North Korea's nuclear program.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry announced the meeting Friday. No immediate confirmation was available from South Korea.

Friction over Japan's brutal colonization of Korea in the first half of the 20th century has prevented Abe and Park from meeting earlier.