Beijing  - Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone arrived in China on Saturday, one day after Chinese officials protested his comments on a disputed group of islands.

Nakasone was scheduled to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for talks on bilateral, regional and international issues, Chinese officials said.

Japanese media said Nakasone wanted to "accelerate the build-up of mutually beneficial strategic relations with China" during his two-day visit, his first to China since he took office in September.

Seoul  - The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, Yu Myung Hwan and Hirofumi Nakasone, Wednesday urged communist North Korea to stop its belligerent posturing to defuse international tensions.

The latest in Pyongyang's series of sharply worded threats had created new tension and was not helpful, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement after a meeting between Yu and Nakasone in Seoul.