President Lee Myung-bak will depart for Japan on Saturday for a two-day visit that includes summit talks and meetings with South Koreans living there.

Lee is scheduled to have a summit meeting with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda in Kyoto on Sunday to discuss regional and global cooperation in a wide range of issues including those concerning North Korea, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.

His visit has been sought as part of the two sides’ “shuttle diplomacy.” Noda visited Seoul from Oct. 18-19 for the first time since he took office on Sept. 2.

The meeting between the two leaders comes as tension rises over a “Peace Statue” a civic group established in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday.

The group has called for sufficient compensation from Tokyo for “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the World War II.

The Tokyo government has requested the Seoul government seek ways to remove it. Seoul maintains that it is not an affair which the government can meddle in.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)