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Canada's PM to visit Thailand, Japan and South Korea

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The prime minister will be accompanied by his foreign affairs and trade ministers, as well as a delegation of business executives.

Harper will also discuss illegal human smuggling with Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Thailand was a staging point for migrant ships bringing Tamil asylum seekers to Canada in recent years.

On March 25-26, Harper will make his third visit to Japan, Canada's fifth largest trading partner.

"We are interested in boosting trade, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. That's why we're going on this trip on the heels of a China trip," said Harper's spokesman Andrew MacDougall.

Harper visited China last month.

In South Korea on March 26-27, Harper will join leaders of 53 other nations for a nuclear security summit.

Topping the agenda will be the problems of securing loose nuclear material and dealing with "rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea," MacDougall said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012