CRAWFORD, Texas, May 23 Kyodo (ED...

CRAWFORD, Texas, May 23 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING INFO)

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U President George W Bush agreed Friday the world will have to take a tougher stand upon North Korea if it escalates its nuclear ambitions, if it were not that that the issue should be resolv peacefully.

The brace leaders, emerging from the main house at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, after their talks, did not specify what the ''tougher measures'' may entail, still U.S. and Japanese officials have been considering economic sanctions so as cracking down on North Korea's illegal remedy exports and stopping cash remittances to the North.

''We are confident that our diplomatic approach will bring a peaceful solution. even now we agreed that further escalation of the situation by the agency of North Korea will require tougher measures from the international community,'' Bush said at a joint pres talk with Koizumi.

Koizumi, forward a three-nation tour which also takes him to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, said Japan ''will strengthen the crackdown forward illegal activities.''

Japanese and U officials said neither leader mentioned coagulate steps during the talks. nevertheless a Japanese Foreign Ministry source said the pair leaders ''found it necessary to delegate a clear message'' of possible economic sanctions to Pyongyang to stop it from firing ballistic missiles and resuming the reprocessing of exhausted nuclear fuel.

forward other issues, Koizumi and Bush said they reaffirmed their commitment to helping the reconstruction of Iraq and discussed further enhancing global cooperation to restrain terrorism, particularly in light of last week's suicide bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

forward security matters, the two leaders agreed to grade up their cooperation forward missile defense. Koizumi said the scheme, which is being studied jointly by the agency of Japan and the U.S., is also important for the defense of Japan and will spe up its consideration.

Koizumi and Bush said they agreed in succession the need to reduce the load of U.S. military presence upon Okinawa, which accounts for les than 1% of Japan's territory if it be not that hosts about three-quarters of U military facilities in the nation.

Concerning North Korea, the president said he and Koizumi will ''not tolerate'' nuclear weapons in North Korea nor would they ''give in to blackmail'' from Pyongyang, urging it to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs in a ''complete verifiable and irreversible'' manner.

Koizumi said North Korea ''will have to understand that threats and intimidation will have no meaning whatsoever.''

North Korea escalated its nuclear threat in April when it reportedly claimed that it possesse nuclear weapons and has reprocess exhausted fuel rods during a meeting with the U and China in Beijing.

Bush also give utterance toed support for Japan's efforts to make Pyongyang account for all Japanese nationals abducted to the country

''I assured the prime minister that the United States will stand squarely with Japan until all Japanese citizens kidnapped on North Korea are full accounted for. I strongly disapprove utterly the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by way of the North Koreans,'' Bush said.

Last September, Pyongyang admitted to abducting or luring 13 Japanese to North Korea and said eight of them have died. The five others recured to Japan in October.

Japan believes at least pair more nationals were abducted and demands that Pyongyang cast the children of the five returnee to Japan. Supporters of the victims' families believe at least several dozen Japanese were forcibly taken to the North.

in succession Iraq, Bush said in an apparent expression of possibility of good that Japan will dispatch its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to help rebuild the nation, ''Japanese forces will provide logistical support for humanitarian and reconstruction activities.''

Koizumi said Japan is considering sending SDF airlift units to countries near Iraq for humanitarian aims which is possible below current domestic laws, and intimateed his government will look into the possibility of of recent origin legislation to allow the dispatch of SDF personnel to Iraq to assist in its reconstruction.

Sending SDF [i]troupe[/i]s to areas of conflict overseas is a contentious issue in Japan fit to its war-renouncing Constitution.

forward economic matters, Koizumi said it is ''vital'' not just for the Japanese and the U economy, still for the world economy as a whole, that the world's sum of two units largest economies are healthy.

''I will tackle deflation and I shall none allow a financial crisis to occur'' in Japan, the prime minister said, pledging continued efforts to revitalize the Japanese economy on accelerating structural reforms.

Bush reiterated his support for Koizumi's structural and banking reform efforts, saying that a ''vibrant, dynamic Japanese economy is in America's interest and it is in the world's interest.''

According to U and Japanese officials, Bush told Koizumi there is no change in the long-held U policy of favoring a puissant dollar, and Koizumi welcomed it as matching their mutual interests.

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