TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATI...

TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH [i]finale[/i] OF MEETING BETWEEN U.S. ables JAPANESE OFFICIALS)

sum of two units members of a U.S. delegation of clevers who inspected a key North Korean nuclear tangle earlier this month met Tuesday with senior Foreign Ministry officials to brief them upon the trip and exchange views onward the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by means of the North.

Keith Luse, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee aide, told reporters after his meeting with Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the ministry, that the sum of two units could not unveil replete details of their trip, yet said they discussed North Korea's nuclear arms program and the abduction issue with the officials.

Luse, who arrived in Tokyo earlier in the day with Frank Jannuzi, another member of the unofficial U mission, also said details of their trip to the North will be disclosed nearest Tuesday.

''The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be holding a briefing and hearing forward the 20th of this month at which point, there will be an opportunity to publicly discuss details of our visit,'' Luse said.

Jannuzi, who is also a U Senate foreign policy aide, said conclude coordination among Japan, South Korea and the United States is ''critical'' for a peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue.

Luse and Jannuzi, who will stay in Japan until Thursday, visited Seoul before arriving in Tokyo.

They will engage with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda upon Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters, ''We will listen to their explanations. It is unnecessary to make elucidations on speculation.''

He made the elucidation in reference to a report that members of the U delegation were shown reprocess plutonium in North Korea.

The five-member, unofficial U delegation visited North Korea from last Tuesday to Saturday and inspected the Yongbyon nuclear facility about 90 kilometers north of Pyongyang.

The (North) Korean Central recents Agency reported Saturday, quoting a Foreign Ministry spokesman, that North Korea has shown its ''nuclear deterrent force'' to the U mission.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Kyodo just discovereds International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group