TOKYO: The Republic of Korea's (ROK) President Roh Moo-hyun arrived in Japan on Friday for a weekend summit where the United States' two key Asian allies will seek agreement on how to resolve the dispute over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) suspected nuclear arms programme.

With Pyongyang's nuclear stand-off dominating the agenda, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Roh - the first ROK leader born after Tokyo's harsh 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula - are likely to do their best to keep a bitter shared history from casting a shadow over the summit.

Roh's talks with Koizumi on Saturday are the third leg of a diplomatic triangle including the two Asia leaders' summits with US President George W. Bush last month.

Rhetoric in Seoul and Tokyo has moved closer to the tough US stance on taming the DPRK's nuclear ambitions.

But the two countries - both in range of Pyongyang's missiles - are wary of provoking the state with talk of a military option.

Gaps also exist between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington over how much to tighten the economic noose around the DPRK.

Roh's four-day trip to Tokyo takes place amid persistent reports that the DPRK could hold talks with the United States and China, and possibly Japan and the ROK, later this month.

Roh's trip aims to build on the friendly spirit of last year, when the two countries co-hosted the World Cup soccer tournament.

The two leaders will also discuss launching talks on a Free Trade Agreement, an idea under study since 1998 and which Seoul hopes would help bring down its chronic trade deficit with Tokyo.

Agencies via Xinhua