South Korean Foreign Minister is to visit Japan next week for talks on North Korea and bilateral ties.

South Korean Foreign Minister is to visit Japan next week for talks on North Korea and bilateral ties, foreign ministry in Seoul said on Friday.

During the two-day trip starting Wednesday, Kim Sung-Hwan will meet counterpart Seiji Maehara to discuss "pending issues including the North Korean issue and cooperation in regional and global stages," the ministry said in a statement.

The visit comes as Seoul is seeking to bring the North\'s uranium enrichment program (UEP to the UN Security Council for possible condemnation and further sanctions.
China opposes taking the issue to the Security Council, a stance confirmed when its chief envoy to six-party disarmament talks Wu Dawei met South Korean nuclear envoy Wi Sung-Lac in Beijing Thursday, Yonhap news agency said.

During the talks, Wu stuck to Beijing\'s position that the North\'s enrichment programme should be handled within the framework of the six-party talks as part of an aid-for-disarmament deal.
"China\'s basic position is that all issues including the UEP should be discussed at the six-party talks," Yonhap quoted an informed source as saying.
"No agreement was struck at the Wi-Wu meeting, but the talks helped understand each other\'s position."

The UN Security Council has ordered the North to shut down all atomic activities following two tests of plutonium bombs.
The six-nation talks grouping China, the United States, the two Koreas, Russia and Japan, have been in stasis since December 2008.