SEOUL, March 3 (Yonhap) -- Japan has invited South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to visit in April but Lee has no plans to do so yet, his aides said Tuesday in response to a news report.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a major Japanese newspaper, reported that the neighboring countries are in consultations for Lee's trip to Japan in April ahead of the annual trilateral summit also involing China.

This year's session is slated to be held in May on South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju. The newspaper said that if Lee makes his first trip to Japan since the launch of the Yukio Hatoyama administration before the tripartite event, it would help demonstrate close relations between the two nations.

"For now, there is no related move under way with regard to President Lee's trip to Japan, although Japan hopes for it (to take place in April)," said Park Sun-kyoo, spokesman at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

The leaders of South Korea and Japan have regularly exchanged visits each year for their so-called shuttle summit.

Lee traveled to Tokyo in June last year and Hatoyama visited Seoul in October.

This year is very symbolic in the Seoul-Tokyo ties as it marks the centennial anniversary of Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japan's brutal rule ended in 1945.

Lee has invited Japanese Emperor Akihito to South Korea, saying his trip, if made, might serve as a milestone in the two countries' efforts for future-oriented relations.  (Yonhap)