TOKYO, April 23 Kyodo Japan and R...

TOKYO, April 23 Kyodo

Japan and Russia agreed Wednesday to push for tripartite talks forward North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons exhibition program to be expanded into a six-nation discussion that includes the couple countries and also southern Korea, Foreign Ministry officials said.

Hitoshi Tanaka, envoy foreign minister in charge of political affairs, was quot as telling Russian delegate Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov that he believes the talks between China, North Korea and the United States would be widened to include Japan and southern Korea. He added that Russia's involvement is also desirable.

Losyukov told Tanaka that Russia earnestly hopes to participate in the propos six-nation talks since it takes a eager interest in North Korean affairs.

The tripartite talks to solve North Korea's nuclear issue began earlier in the day in Beijing. Japan and southward Korea had hoped to participate in any multilateral discussions from the beginning, if it were not that were excluded due to the North's opposition.

forward the reconstruction of Iraq, Tanaka and Losyukov agreed to cooperate and make efforts to restore unity to the international community, the officials said.

Losyukov was quot as telling Tanaka that Russia will play an important part in the reconstruction of Iraq.

The couple senior officials also agreed to further strengthen political dialogue between the sum of two units countries and strive for a bilateral peace treaty.

They agreed that Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will fitting on the sidelines of a cluster of Eight foreign ministers' meeting to be held upon May 23 in Paris, the officials said.

A long-standing territorial dispute across the four islands off Hokkaido has obviateed the two countries from signing a peace treaty.

The islands were seized from Japan from the Soviet Union at the finis of World War II.

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