Powell seeks Asian support for new U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq

Tokyo - Saying that the United States is entering into a period of "intense diplomacy" on Iraq, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said today that he had urged Japan's leaders to help the United States lobby members of the United Nations Security Council to support an American-sponsored resolution on Iraq.

Mr. Powell made his comments following a series of meetings on Saturday night with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on the first leg of a five-day swing through Asia that will take Mr. Powell to Beijing later today and then to South Korea on Monday.

"We hope that the prime minister and foreign minister, because they have been supporting our efforts, will continue to support those efforts," Mr. Powell told reporters this morning. "I hope that once they see the resolution, they will find it the appropriate thing to do to show support for that and to contact members" of the Security Council.

American officials say that Mr. Koizumi has emerged as a potentially important ally for the United States in winning support from fence-sitting members of the Security Council in joining the United States and Britain's campaign to win passage of a second resolution endorsing the use of force to disarm Iraq.

Though Japan is not among the Security Council's 15 members, American officials contend it maintains good relations with several of the 10 nonpermanent members of the Council, in large part because of its foreign aid commitments. One of the countries Japan is thought to have particularly good ties with on the Council is Angola.

"Japan, I think, has the potential to be very helpful in that effort," a senior State Department official said.

But it remains unclear just how far Japan will be will to go to support the United States on Iraq. Though Mr. Koizumi has suggested that Japan would be willing to support the use of force to disarm Iraq, he has also indicated he would prefer that the United States first receive Security Council backing.

In Japan, as in much of Europe, opinion polls show that the public opposes war with Iraq without United Nations backing.

American officials said they are hoping that Japan, in addition to lobbying members of the Security Council, will support military action against Iraq by providing fuel and warships.

Japanese ships are currently assisting the United States in naval operations in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, but Japanese officials have indicated that they will need a vote of the Japanese Parliament to authorize the use of those ships in a military action against Iraq.

Mr. Powell said he also discussed strategies for resolving the standoff with North Korea with the Japanese leaders. Though Japan has urged the United States to talk directly with the north, Mr. Powell said that Mr. Koizumi and Ms. Kawaguchi agreed with the Bush administration that those talks should take place under the aegis of a "multilateral forum."

The United States has proposed inviting North Korea to a meeting involving 8 other nations and the European Union. That would include the five permanent members of the Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus South Korea, Australia and Japan.

However, Pyongyang has rejected that idea, demanding that the United States meet with North Korea alone. Mr. Powell said the Japanese had offered another proposal for a forum, but declined to describe it.

"It is not just a U.S.-D.P.R.K. problem," Mr. Powell said, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "That's what happened last time when we thought the problem was solved."

Mr. Powell also said that the United States was prepared to assist North Korea economically if it permanently abandons its nuclear weapons programs. Mr. Powell is expected to announce a continuation of American food aid to North Korea, which had ended in December, when he visits South Korea for the inauguration of the new president, Roh Moo Hyun, on Tuesday.

"You can't eat plutonium," Mr. Powell said. Referring to North Korea, he added, "As long as you pursue those technologies, those who can help you grow the things that you can eat and develop an economy that will assist your people, can't help you." -- New York Times

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