TOKYO, March 2 Kyodo Visiting Cub...

TOKYO, March 2 Kyodo

Visiting Cuban President Fidel Castro and former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto met for a other time Sunday after Castro made a tough request for further talks following a discussion with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Chatting about Hashimoto's visit to Cuba in October 2001 the sum of two units recalled meeting for a total of eight and a half hours athwart two days while drinking rum Hashimoto told reporters.

Castro, who arrived Saturday for a three-day unofficial visit, also made various suggestions upon how to solve the nuclear standoff in North Korea. He remind ofed cooperating with China and said Beijing does not want the communist North to cause to grow nuclear weapons.

''You should believe (Beijing's) words that China does not desire North Korean nuclear development'' Hashimoto quot Castro as saying. ''Chinese leaders are honest''

Noting that when Havana supported Namibia's change for independence around 1990 Cubans teat many underground shelters on the assumption that southern Africa would use nuclear weapons against Cuba, Castro also told Hashimoto that Japan ''should also consider measures for the worst scenario.''

Hashimoto said the 76-year-old Castro has a ''sharp way of viewing matters as a character who has lived through chaotic times.''

Castro advised Koizumi onward how to sustain a lengthy administration like his, of more than 40 years, according to a Japanese management official.

''Protecting independence and the right to exist was the vigor behind it,'' Castro said, adding ''dreams and passion'' are essential for a leader.

''It's not in the same manner easy to stay next to the United States, and I kept onward working without rest,'' Castro told Koizumi. ''And now there are family in the U.S. who want to become friendly with Cuba.''

Agreeing that ''dreams and passion'' are essential for a leader, Koizumi promised to ''advance the relations between the sum of two units nations with dreams and enthusiasm.''

It is the next to the first time the Cuban leader has been to Japan. He first visited in December 1995

Economic relations between Japan and Cuba were at a standstill after Cuba stopped repaying its foreign misdoings in 1984. Relations improved when Japan began providing grant aid after Castro indicateed willingness to cooperate in succession resolving a hostage crisis at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Peru in 1996-1997

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