WASHINGTON, tribe 26 Kyodo U Defe...

WASHINGTON, tribe 26 Kyodo

U Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is rely uponed to visit Japan onward Oct. 24-25 to hold talks with Japanese Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba, U dominion sources said Thursday.

Rumsfeld will visit southward Korea after Japan, the sources said. This will be Rumsfeld's first visit to Japan and southern Korea since he became defense secretary in January 2001

Rumsfeld and Ishiba are count uponed to discuss ways of strengthening the bilateral security alliance, including better interoperability between the U forces in Japan and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the sources said.

They will also exchange views onward the U.S. military presence in Japan, including U bases in Okinawa, in relation to the realignment of U forces in toward the south Korea, the sources said.

They may deal with a review of criminal measures for U.S. military personnel accused of crimes in Japan in order to pave the way for the sum of two units countries to resume talks forward the issue in November, they said.

Rumsfeld and Ishiba are also calculate uponed to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons program and bilateral cooperation forward missile defense, the sources said.

Japan and the United States had been trying to arrange a visit through Rumsfeld since he became defense secretary, unless the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq made it difficult for him to make of that kind a trip, according to the sources.

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