SEOUL: Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was set to arrive in South Korea late Tuesday, amid reports he would return looted historical documents to try to improve ties strained by a territorial dispute.
Noda, scheduled to arrive at 9 pm (1200 GMT), will bring several volumes of historic Korean royal texts taken out of the country during Japan's 1910-45 colonisation, Seoul newspapers say.
The gesture is intended to focus his summit Wednesday with President Lee Myung-Bak on general cooperation rather than sovereignty and historical issues, the Korea JoongAng Daily said.
When Noda took office in late August, South Korea urged his government to "look squarely" at the past. Japan imposed harsh rule over Korea from 1910-45 and relations remain prickly.
They improved in the wake of Japan's tsunami disaster in March, when South Koreans offered aid and sympathy, but worsened this summer when a territorial row over islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) flared up again.
The presidential palace and Japanese embassy said they could not confirm plans to return some of the volumes of royal documents from Korea's Joseon dynasty.
Last November Lee and Noda's predecessor Naoto Kan signed an agreement for the return of all 1,205 volumes, some of which date back to the 17th century, in an attempt to improve relations.
Noda and Lee were Wednesday expected to discuss proposals for a free trade pact, an exchange programme and efforts to restart six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.
Japan, South Korea and the United States say the North must show it is serious about scrapping its atomic arsenal before the long-stalled talks -- which also group China and Russia -- can resume.
While Tokyo and Seoul see eye-to-eye on Pyongyang, they remain at odds over tiny Seoul-controlled islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.
The decades-old sovereignty dispute flared up again in June when flag carrier Korean Air mounted a test flight of its new aircraft over them.
Tokyo ordered its public servants to boycott Korean Air for a month. Three conservative Japanese lawmakers who planned a trip near the islands to reassert their country's claim were barred from South Korea in August.
The same month, South Korea lodged a strong diplomatic protest against Japan's 2011 defence white paper, which describes the islands as Japanese territory.
Seoul also complains that its neighbour's school textbooks distort their shared history. And it wants to discuss compensation for Japan's use of Korean women as military sex slaves during World War II.
Despite the disputes, some analysts are upbeat about relations.
Park Ihn-Hwi, professor at the graduate school of international studies at Ewha Woman's University in Seoul, said the return of the royal books would improve public sentiment in Korea.
"I don't think relations have deteriorated this year," he told AFP.
"There is a consensus between the two governments that relations should not be strained further by an ongoing territorial row and other disputes such as textbooks."
Park said the two countries would try to step up cooperation in preparation for any regional emergency sparked by North Korea.
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