South Korea is considering scaling back ties with Japan after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited a controversial war shrine.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon who begins a three-day visit to Japan tomorrow, made the announcement today.
The trip is a reversal of his earlier position that such a trip would be "inappropriate" following last week's visit by Koizumi to the Yasukuni shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism.
South Korea, North Korea and China have protested against the visit as a reflection of Japanese leaders' refusal to repent for the country's militarist past because convicted World War Two criminals are honoured there along with war dead.
"It may be worth considering differentiating bilateral and multilateral relations," Ban told a news conference, when asked if South Korea would scrap diplomatic exchanges with Japan.
Japan is part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which is scheduled to hold a meeting of leaders in the South Korean port city of Pusan next month.
Seoul is not expected to take action against Japan's participation there, but it has said an expected bilateral summit meeting between its president and Koizumi this year was unlikely.