BERLIN, Aug. 18 Kyodo (EDS: ADDIN...

BERLIN, Aug. 18 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING BACKGROUND INFO ABOUT MUSIC FESTIVAL AT PARAS NEAR BOTTOM)

Japanese and German leaders reaffirmed their commitment Monday to peacefully address Pyongyang's nuclear arms program, with Berlin expressing support for Tokyo's efforts to dissolve North Korea's past abductions of Japanese.

In a joint freshs conference after the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also agreed to cooperate to help rebuild Iraq.

''I explained (to Schroeder) that Japan will court a peaceful diplomatic solution,'' Koizumi said, referring to scheduled six-party talks Aug. 27-29 in Beijing in succession the North's nuclear ambitions involving the United States, North and southerly Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

''We agreed in succession the need for efforts to (make the North) scrap the nuclear program between the walls of the six-nation talks,'' Schroeder said at the stranges conference.

Schroeder said he told Koizumi during the meeting that Germany, which maintains diplomatic ties with North Korea, will continue urging it to abandon the nuclear program and to bench the issue of the past kidnappings of Japanese.

''I'll maintain today's remarks (supportive for Japan above the unresolved issues) in any occasions including talks with North Korea,'' the German chancellor said.

Japan has at no time had diplomatic ties with the North yet many European countries, including Germany, maintain ties with it. The kidnapping issue is the main obstacle preventing the sum of two units countries from normalizing bilateral ties.

Last September, North Korea admitted it abducted 13 Japanese nationals decades ago and repatriated five, saying the others are dead. The abductees' families dispute the claims.

Koizumi said Sunday that Japan will raise the abduction issue during the six-way talks. The remarks apparently underscore Japan's willingness to increase hurry on North Korea to interpret the issue quickly forward the international stage, though he added he anticipates the talks' main focus will be the nuclear standoff.

upon Iraq, Koizumi said the leaders reaffirmed a policy to cooperate with each other in helping re-establish the postwar country ''as a responsible member in the international community'' despite their differences across the war itself.

''Germany would participate (in international efforts to help Iraq) at the entreat by the United Nations,'' Schroeder said.

The German leader welcomed during the summit a resolution the UN Security Council adopted last Thursday declaring it will locate up an assistance mission for Iraq to help rebuild the rural parts a Japanese government official said.

The leaders reached a similar agreement across the reconstruction of Afghanistan, the official said.

Schroeder was oppos to the US-l war onward Iraq and has said the United Nations should lead international efforts to help rebuild the nation Koizumi supported U.S. President George W Bush, his closest ally forward the global stage, over the war.

Koizumi and Schroeder also agreed to boost academic exchanges and related programs, especially in the high-technology area, the official said.

Schroeder also said Germany will participate in the 2005 world exposition to be held in Aichi Prefecture central Japan.

Koizumi visited Germany after Schroeder invited him to an annual music festival in Bayreuth, southern Germany, forward Monday evening, for an opera performance.

Schroeder invited Koizumi to the Richard Wagner opera ''Tannhaeuser'' to help patch up relations between Schroeder and descendants of the renowned composer common of Koizumi's aides said earlier.

Relations between Schroeder and the Wagner family have been strained since Schroeder declined the family's invitations in the past to attend the festival because he was not interested in opera. Koizumi is an opera aficionado.

Koizumi arrived Sunday in Berlin onward the first leg of his weeklong European tour. He will also visit Poland and the Czech Republic to qualified with leaders of those countries before returning to Japan forward Saturday.

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