Abe had hinted he could decline the opportunity to visit the Games following South Korea's new reservations about an agreement over "comfort women". 

The relationship between South Korea and Japan has greatly deteriorated in recent years due to several disputes.

One of these has been caused by Japan's refusal to negotiate South Korea's demands that it apologise or pay reparations for mistreatment of World War Two comfort women from Korea - women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories.

Abe appears to have softened his stance and now appears set to attend the Pyeongchang 2018 Opening Ceremony alongside other dignitaries.

His country will host the next Olympics after Pyeongchang - the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.

The Japanese Prime Minister has also called for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to "properly lay out our position on our comfort women agreement".

"If circumstances allow, I want to attend the Opening Ceremony for the Pyeongchang Olympics," Abe was quoted as saying by Japanese media today.

According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, the move was welcomed by the Blue House.

"The Government welcomes Japan's official notification of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's trip to South Korea," a spokesperson said.

"Our Government hopes to closely cooperate with the Japanese Government so Prime Minister Abe's South Korea trip will lead to the future-oriented development of the relationship between the two countries."

Moon had earlier claimed it was not possible to resolve the dispute between the two countries.

A South Korean Government Task Force claimed to have found faults in the domestic process that led to an accord in December 2015.

The Task Force claimed the opinions of the surviving former comfort women were not "sufficiently reflected" in the negotiation process.

The Olympic Opening Ceremony will be held on February 9.