North Korea must disclose nuclear programmes - Fukuda
(Adds U.S. State Department official)
By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea agreed on Monday that North Korea needs to swiftly give a full account of its nuclear programmes, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said.
Speaking after meeting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Tokyo, Fukuda also welcomed Lee's stance on North Korea, which is tougher than what Pyongyang has seen from Seoul over the past decade and more in line with Tokyo's position.
Lee is visiting Tokyo after a trip to the United States, resuming summit diplomacy that had been suspended under his predecessor, who complained Japan had not offered proper contrition for its 1910-1945 rule of the Korean peninsula.
"On the nuclear issue, we confirmed the need for North Korea to swiftly make a correct and full declaration," Fukuda told a joint news conference with Lee after their meeting.
"We agreed that Japan and South Korea would work together and that Japan, South Korea and the United States would cooperate more closely than before."
U.S. State Department official Sung Kim arrived in Seoul on Monday and will leave for North Korea on Tuesday to discuss an overdue declaration the secretive state was supposed to make about its nuclear arms programme as a part of an international disarmament-for-aid deal.
"Everything is subject to verification. That is what we need to focus on," Kim told reporters.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to reveal its nuclear weapons programmes, as stipulated in a deal struck under the six-party talks process with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
A Japanese newspaper reported on Monday that North Korea told the United States in December it has produced a total of around 30 kg (66 lbs) of plutonium, about 20 kg less than what the United States estimates.
North Korea has said it has accounted for its past and current activities as required. But the United States says that the North has not discussed any transfer of nuclear technology to other countries, notably Syria, nor has it accounted for its suspected pursuit of uranium enrichment.
Fukuda said it was in North Korea's own interest to denuclearise and said he was heartened by South Korea's new position of pressing North Korea to improve human rights and make progress on nuclear disarmament to receive aid.
"(South Korea's) policy is basically similar to our country's stance of providing economic aid only after the resolution of the nuclear, abduction, and missile issues and the establishment of diplomatic relations, and I feel assured."
Japan has refused to normalise relations with North Korea until there is progress in a row over the fate of Japanese people abducted by Pyongyang's agents decades ago.
Lee said he understood Japan's approach to negotiating with North Korea.
"We acknowledged that North Korea's nuclear development is a threat not only to the Korean peninsula but to Northeast Asia, and talked about how we could work towards a peaceful solution through the six-party process," Lee said. (Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Seoul; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea agreed on Monday that North Korea needs to swiftly give a full account of its nuclear programmes, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said.
Speaking after meeting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Tokyo, Fukuda also welcomed Lee's stance on North Korea, which is tougher than what Pyongyang has seen from Seoul over the past decade and more in line with Tokyo's position.
Lee is visiting Tokyo after a trip to the United States, resuming summit diplomacy that had been suspended under his predecessor, who complained Japan had not offered proper contrition for its 1910-1945 rule of the Korean peninsula.
"On the nuclear issue, we confirmed the need for North Korea to swiftly make a correct and full declaration," Fukuda told a joint news conference with Lee after their meeting.
"We agreed that Japan and South Korea would work together and that Japan, South Korea and the United States would cooperate more closely than before."
U.S. State Department official Sung Kim arrived in Seoul on Monday and will leave for North Korea on Tuesday to discuss an overdue declaration the secretive state was supposed to make about its nuclear arms programme as a part of an international disarmament-for-aid deal.
"Everything is subject to verification. That is what we need to focus on," Kim told reporters.
North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to reveal its nuclear weapons programmes, as stipulated in a deal struck under the six-party talks process with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
A Japanese newspaper reported on Monday that North Korea told the United States in December it has produced a total of around 30 kg (66 lbs) of plutonium, about 20 kg less than what the United States estimates.
North Korea has said it has accounted for its past and current activities as required. But the United States says that the North has not discussed any transfer of nuclear technology to other countries, notably Syria, nor has it accounted for its suspected pursuit of uranium enrichment.
Fukuda said it was in North Korea's own interest to denuclearise and said he was heartened by South Korea's new position of pressing North Korea to improve human rights and make progress on nuclear disarmament to receive aid.
"(South Korea's) policy is basically similar to our country's stance of providing economic aid only after the resolution of the nuclear, abduction, and missile issues and the establishment of diplomatic relations, and I feel assured."
Japan has refused to normalise relations with North Korea until there is progress in a row over the fate of Japanese people abducted by Pyongyang's agents decades ago.
Lee said he understood Japan's approach to negotiating with North Korea.
"We acknowledged that North Korea's nuclear development is a threat not only to the Korean peninsula but to Northeast Asia, and talked about how we could work towards a peaceful solution through the six-party process," Lee said. (Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Seoul; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
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