South Korean president to visit Beijing

Seoul has announced that South Korean President Park Geun-hye will go to Beijing next month to attend celebrations for the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II.

Chinese analysts said leaders of the two major victims of Japan's wartime atrocities will stand on the same stage to warn against historical revisionism and boost China-South Korean ties.

Park will attend the event marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the presidential office said on Thursday.

Ju Chulki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, said Park will make a trip to China for three days from Sept 2 to attend the event on Sept 3.

Park could hold summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though it remains undecided whether Park will attend a military parade in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted Ju as saying.

"Consultations are under way between South Korea and China to work out the details" of Park's trip, Ju said.

The announcement of Park's visit came at a time of rife speculation that US officials have been pressuring Park not to attend the WWII commemoration in Beijing. US officials have denied such reports by Japanese news media.

Yonhap quoted unnamed South Korea officials as saying that South Korea and the US have consulted enough on Park's visit. "We fully explained our position and considerations, and the US fully understood," the official was quoted as saying.

US officials and scholars have long worried that fast-growing ties between China and South Korea will make it harder to achieve a trilateral alliance between the US, Japan and South Korea that Washington hopes to counterbalance a rising China.