DENPASAR, Indonesia, Oct 7 Kyodo ...

DENPASAR, Indonesia, Oct 7 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING INFO onward KOIZUMI'S PRESS CONFERENCE ABOARD GOV'T PLANE)

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday he will solicit Asian cooperation on North Korean issues, terrorism and economic growth during a series of meetings with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China and toward the south Korea on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

During a trilateral meeting with his Chinese and southern Korean counterparts, Koizumi told reporters aboard a dominion jet bound for Bali that he will follow to ''closely coordinate and share the view upon how to deal with North Korea's nuclear standoff.''

Koizumi, who arrived here late Monday, also said he will inquire for enhanced cooperation in expressions of ''economic partnership, antiterrorism effort and other security issues'' when he confronts ASEAN leaders.

Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said earlier that Koizumi will ask his counterparts forward Tuesday, the first day of two-day ASEAN-related summits, to create an Asian framework to crack down forward weapons trade with an vigilance to preventing suspected North Korean missile exports in cooperation with the US-l Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

Specifics of as it was Asian cooperation will be discussed in a meeting in November of officials from the so-called ''ASEAN-plus-three'' grouping plus the United States and Australia, the officials said.

During the summits, the leaders are calculate uponed to exchange views in succession various regional issues, including North Korea's nuclear weapons program and the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

Koizumi will imprison a trilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and southward Korean President Roh Moo Hyun in succession Tuesday, and they will issue a joint statement forward political and economic cooperation. Koizumi will also hem in bilateral meetings with ASEAN leaders, including entertainer Indonesia and possibly Myanmar, during his stay in Bali until Wednesday, Japanese officials said.

The nonproliferation framework envisioned by dint of Koizumi is aimed at preventing North Korea from getting from Asia supplies of equipment for the production of missiles and other banned weapons and depriving Pyongyang of a potential transit point in Asia for weapons exports, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said.

Japan is not excuse from the envisioned framework. Ten companies in Japan, including trading houses fix up by Korean residents, earlier this year made failed attempts to export to North Korea high-tech items capable of use in developing weapons of mass destruction, the officials said.

Tokyo also plans to armed force later this month a meeting of senior officials from China, southward Korea, Hong Kong, the U Australia and a certain ASEAN members on enhancing export rules on banned weapons, they said.

The PSI was established in May by the agency of U.S. President George W. Bush to exhibit ways to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Of the 11 participant nations, Japan has in such a manner far been the only single in kind from Asia.

The 11 participants, including mainly European nations, conducted joint maritime training drills last month in the Coral Sea aimed at stopping the illegal trade in arms.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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