Obama to meet Japan’s prime minister at UN; meetings also set with Russia, China leaders

Obama to meet Japan’s new prime minister at UN

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will meet Japan’s new leader for the first time at the United Nations next week.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said that Obama will meet Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday. The visit will come on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Obama has two other individual meetings scheduled, on Tuesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao and on Wednesday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. It remains unclear whether Obama will meet jointly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as has been speculated. Rice and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said they had no details to offer.