Japan seeks to press N. Korea over nukes

Beijing - Japan's prime minister tried Sunday to build diplomatic pressure on North Korea to abandon its threat of a nuclear test, meeting with Chinese leaders in the first summit between the Asian powers in five years.

Meanwhile, a former South Korean lawmaker said North Korea denied a nuclear test was imminent, citing a Chinese diplomat who spoke to officials from the North on Sunday. China is North Korea's closest ally.

There had been speculation that a nuclear test could come Sunday, the anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's appointment as head of the Korean Workers' Party in 1997.

However former South Korean lawmaker Jang Sung-min said North Korea said the North told China it had not raised the alert level of its military. He said he spoke to an unidentified Chinese diplomat who learned of North Korea's stance from Pyongyang officials Sunday afternoon.

Jang said the North also told China it may drop plans to test its first atomic bomb if the United States holds bilateral talks with Pyongyang — or accelerate the plans if the U.S. moves toward sanctions or a military attack. The United States has repeatedly denied it intends to invade North Korea.

Jang, who spoke in Seoul, is a former ruling party lawmaker who currently heads a think tank in Seoul and has been active in Northeast Asian affairs.

The Chinese official's comments could not be independently confirmed.

In Beijing, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in the first stop in a round of shuttle diplomacy. He was to visit Seoul for talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday.

Persuading China and South Korea to support forceful diplomacy and potentially tough sanctions against Pyongyang is seen as crucial. Over the past three years, Beijing and Seoul have resisted sanctions and argued for engagement as the best way to deal with the isolated regime.

But calls for a harder line have mounted since North Korea's latest threat.

"North Korea must not conduct nuclear tests," Abe demanded before leaving for his summits. "We need to transmit a message to North Korea that unless it revokes its test plans, it will face further isolation from international society and its situation will deteriorate."

Jittery nations have warned a test would unravel regional security and possibly trigger an arms race.

The U.N. Security Council issued a stern statement Friday urging the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions and warning of unspecified consequences if the isolated communist regime does not comply.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said it was prepared to push for punitive measures at the United Nations if the North goes ahead with the test.

A top Japanese ruling party official warned of further sanctions if North Korea conducts a nuclear test. Tokyo began stepping up trade restrictions on North Korea in July after it test-fired seven missiles, including a long-range rocket, into the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

"We have already imposed financial measures ... but we may have to go further, like stopping imports and exports (from North Korea)" if it conducts a nuclear test, Shoichi Nakagawa, the Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief, said on public broadcaster NHK.

A midday incursion Saturday by North Korean troops into the southern side of the no-man's-land separating North and South Korea only stoked the tensions.

South Korean soldiers rattled off 40 warning shots at the five communist troops who crossed the center line of the Demilitarized Zone.

It was unclear whether the North Korean advance was intended as a provocation, or was an attempt to go fishing at a nearby stream, an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on condition of anonymity, citing official policy. No one was hurt, and the North Koreans retreated.

While such border skirmishes are not unheard of, they are relatively rare. Saturday's incursion was only the second this year, the official said.

State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said Saturday the United States was concerned about North Korea's threat to test its first atomic bomb and the department was closely monitoring the high tensions.

Also Saturday, South Korea's nuclear envoy announced he will visit Beijing on Monday for two days of talks with Chinese officials about the threatened nuclear test.

International talks over North Korea's nuclear program — involving the United States, China, Japan, Russia and both Koreas — have been stalled since late last year, when Pyongyang boycotted the negotiations in response to American economic sanctions.

North Korea said Tuesday it decided to act in the face of what it claimed was "the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war," but gave no date for the test.

Talks between Abe and Chinese leaders — the first summit-level talks between Japan and China since October 2001 — also focused on mending frayed diplomatic ties.

China canceled previous meetings to protest former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a Tokyo war shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's imperialist past. A handful of war criminals are worshipped in the shrine along with the rest of Japan's fallen soldiers.

"This visit is the first by a Japanese prime minister in five years, which represents a positive turn in our relationship," Hu said after greeting Abe in the Great Hall of the People. -- The Associated Press

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News

Brunei's Fastest Growing Website with