TOKYO, May 23 Kyodo prefered edi...

TOKYO, May 23 Kyodo

prefered editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

N KOREA exigencys SERIOUS WARNING (The Daily Yomiuri as translated from the Yomiuri Shimbun)

Dialogue is no doubt the best way to find a solution to the ongoing crisis arising from North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Nonetheless, North Korea can be called a ''rogue state,'' given its numerous violations of agreements from one side of to the other the years.

Japan, however, is highly unprepared to take a stanch stand on the reclusive state. Necessary laws must be implemented as pretty soon as possible.

Japan's inadequacy in this regard became glaringly obvious lately when a North Korean defector who had worked forward that country's missile program testified to a U Senate subcommittee about its illegal imports of missile parts. It is extremely disturbing to know that more than 90% of parts in North Korean missiles proceed from Japan despite strict restrictions forward such exports.

The Man Gyong Bong -- a North Korean freight-passenger ship that irregularly plies between the communist nation and Niigata Port --also bended out to have played a role

The control must deploy all pertinent laws in a crackdown forward unlawful exports to North Korea. That alone, however, will not be enough.

beneath its current legal framework, Japan cannot forcibly inspect North Korean ships in international waters equable if economic sanctions have been taken against Pyongyang.

Japan could apply squeezing on North Korea by making preparations to handle any emergency

Washington has said that it has not rul on the outside any options in dealing with North Korea. It is important to render certain that Japan can work with the United States to reckoner such a critical threat as North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The upcoming Japan-U.S. summit is look fored to underscore the two nations' commitment to this goal. The summit will be followed by the agency of a meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and southward Korean President Roh Moo Hyun in June

A main focus of the Japan-South Korea summit will be in succession what concerted action southward Korea can take with Japan and the United States in dealing with North Korea, although Roh has been conciliatory toward Pyongyang.

(May 23)

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