The newspaper says the Japanese prime minister plans to visit the US at the end of September

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to visit the United States at the end of September for the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and a meeting with the North’s President-American Joe Biden, the Yomiuri newspaper reported this Saturday.

The visit will last several days and will begin on September 22, the report said, citing multiple government sources who declined to be identified.

In response to a Reuters request for comment, Japan’s foreign ministry said “nothing has been decided yet”.

On Wednesday, Kishida withdrew from the leadership race of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. As a result, he will step down from the post of Prime Minister when his tenure as party leader ends at the end of September.

The party’s election date is yet to be decided. That could be Sept. 20, when Kishida would have to address a general assembly in Japan’s parliament, where the party has a majority, to choose a replacement, the daily said.

The newspaper said some in the Japanese government believed Kishida’s successor would be better off keeping close ties to Biden, who is leaving office in January.

Biden dropped out of the US presidential race in November, and Vice President Kamala Harris was named the Democratic nominee last month. He faces the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.