Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meets today Chinese President Hu Jintao, this according to an official statement released by Japan's Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 18:40 local time (GMT + 07:00) and is expected to last an hour.

It was arranged after Mr Koizumi delivered a speech at the summit in which he apologised for the crimes of the Japanese army.

Beijing responded with positive signals. An official note released yesterday said that anti-Japanese demonstrations would be banned.

The two Asian giants want to find a peaceful solution to their differences, especially since from an economic point of view both have a lot at stake: Sino-Japanese trade amounts to US$212 billion.

In the morning South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and the President of North Korea's parliament Yong-nam met to discuss the North's nuclear weapons programme and the six-nation talks.

Mr Lee said that "it was the first high-level meeting between the North and the South since the summit of June 15, 2002.

He added that "we had an open and frank discussion on important issues and went beyond what was scheduled". The meeting lasted 30 minutes.