TOKYO, May 14 Kyodo Prime Ministe...

TOKYO, May 14 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday he would continue to regard Kim Jong Il as leader of North Korea and his political counterpart, despite the lack of progressive growth in talks on normalization of bilateral ties.

Speaking at a House of Representatives committee debate forward war contingency bills, Koizumi dismissed the suggestion that it could be advantageous for Japan to give up talks with Kim's regime and begin to build of the present day ties from scratch when North Korea has a modern leader.

''We have nevertheless to see clearly what kind of administration and situation could become visible after a (possible) collapse'' of Kim's leadership, Koizumi told the committee.

Japan should maintain efforts with the international community to impede the North's leadership from becoming too isolated, he added.

Japan and North Korea, which have not at any time had diplomatic ties, have been negotiating about normalizing relations.

if it were not that the talks have hit snags to be ascribed to disputes over how to stool the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals and its nuclear weapons disclosure program.

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