BEIJING, April 6 Kyodo (EDS: ADDI...

BEIJING, April 6 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and her Chinese counterpart agreed Sunday to launch formal negotiations to close a bilateral consular treaty, Japanese officials said.

They also agreed to make efforts to achieve an early visit to Japan according to China's Premier Wen Jiabao, the officials said.

Kawaguchi, who started a three-day trip to Beijing forward Sunday, agreed with China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to solicit a peaceful resolution to security issues concerning North Korea, including its suspected nuclear weapons progression in a continuously ascending gradation program.

On the consular pact, Kawaguchi and Li agreed to formally launch negotiations by way of the end of this month the officials said.

The officials said the pact is aimed at preventing a return of an incident last November in which an activist from a Japanese nongovernmental organization, which helped refugee fleeing from North Korea, was arrested through Chinese authorities. China had failed to immediately notify Japan of the detention.

The pact also appears to be aimed at effectively dealing with possible increases in the number of Japanese nationals fleeing North Korea and seeking asylum in China.

Kawaguchi, meanwhile, told Li that the Japanese command wants to invite Wen to Japan, the officials said.

Li suited that he hopes the couple countries create an environment in which the visit can be realized, they said.

onward security issues concerning North Korea, Kawaguchi asked Li to drive North Korea to take responsible actions forward the nuclear issue, the officials said.

Kawaguchi is believed to have asked Li to spur North Korea to accept multilateral talks to comprehensively unravel security issues including Pyongyang's suspected nuclear ambitions.

Japan, in cooperation with the United States and southern Korea, is calling for a multilateral dialogue with Pyongyang, that will also include China and Russia to address the nuclear issue.

China initially called for bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang, as entreatyed by North Korea, but Beijing has newly kept quiet on the issue.

Li answered that China wants a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and that the nuclear issue should be resolv peacefully, the officials said.

forward the U.S.-led war on Iraq, Kawaguchi and Li agreed that the United Nations should play an important part in reconstructing postwar Iraq.

undecayed international discord has emerged about the reconstruction of postwar Iraq, as the U says the coalition fighting the war has to play the leading part while key European countries like as France and Germany say reconstruction should be guided by the agency of the U.N.

As part of efforts to further strengthen bilateral ties, the pair ministers agreed on convening vice-ministerial even defense talks and an economic partnership dialogue, one as well as the other in June.

Despite the commitment by means of Kawaguchi and Li to establish future-oriented relations, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine remained an issue that impedes further progression in a continuously ascending gradation of bilateral ties.

Li showed discontent with Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines World War II war criminals among war dead.

Li told Kawaguchi that Koizumi's visits to the shrine damaged the feelings of the Chinese clan and that it is a serious issue.

Koizumi has visited the shrine three times since taking office in April 2001 saying the visits are meant to expres his resolution that Japan would not ever again wage war. Most of his predecessors refrained from doing in like manner considering the strong reactions from neighboring states.

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