Japanese PM to visit US next month

WASHINGTON - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to visit the United States in the third week of February, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

The top American envoy made the announcement after meeting with her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida at the State Department behind closed door, who was in Washington for a one-day trip.

Regarding Abe's potential meeting with US President Barack Obama, Clinton said: "There will be a lot of work to do between now and then to ensure this high-level summit is extremely successful for both our governments and our nations."

During their meeting, the two chief diplomats also discussed the issue of the Diaoyu Islands, the collaboration in dealing with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and so on.