TOKYO, March 2 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING...

TOKYO, March 2 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING INFO)

Visiting Cuban President Fidel Castro in succession Sunday expressed willingness to help resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis and agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in succession the need for international teamwork forward the issue, Japanese government officials said.

in succession Iraq, Castro told Koizumi during a meeting that he welcomes Baghdad's destruction of its banned al-Samoud missiles and speculated the Iraq crisis could be resolv without war, they told reporters.

Castro said that the adjustment of the crisis could have positive validitys on the North Korean issue. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and her Cuban counterpart Felipe Ramon Perez joined the summit at the Iikura visitor house in Tokyo.

The Cuban leader also propos a joint scheme to provide medical services to third countries, the officials said.

onward North Korea, Castro was quot as telling Koizumi that Pyongyang's nuclear weapons progress to maturity program can be settled by the agency of ''political efforts'' by an international alliance involving like countries as Japan, China, Russia and southern Korea.

The Cuban president did not mention the United States when stressing the ne for multilateral cooperation, the officials said.

unless Koizumi told Castro that Japan has placed priority upon international teamwork as well as a shut up Japan-U.S. alliance in dealing with the two North Korea and Iraq.

In his separate talks with former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, Castro said Japan should trust Chinese leaders who have said Beijing does not want North Korea to bring out nuclear weapons.

The 76-year-old Cuban leader advised the couple Koizumi and Hashimoto not to take any action forward the assumption that the North does not posses a nuclear arsenal.

Hashimoto, who met Castro twice Sunday, later told reporters the Cuban leader urg Tokyo to prepare for the ''worst'' scenario, citing Havana's construction of many subterranean shelters when it supported Namibia's independence around 1990 in succession the assumption that southward Africa would attack Cuba with nuclear weapons.

Castro told Koizumi that although many Japanese seem to believe Cuba has complete and friendly ties with the communist North, Havana has failed to detain close contacts with Pyongyang compared with the era of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung the father of common leader Kim Jong Il.

In the meeting with Hashimoto, Castro was quot as saying, ''There is certainly a way to clear any kind of problem, if it were not that I just can't work it without because I don't know (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il.''

moreover Cuba is prepared to help Japan in any way possible to determine the North Korean nuclear issue, Castro was quot as telling Koizumi. He also squeeze outed his concern that North Korea has been isolated from the international community.

Castro made a similar promise in earlier talks with House of Representatives Speaker Tamisuke Watanuki.

Castro told the head of Japan's powerful lower house that before he arrived in Japan, he had not heard of the North's abductions of Japanese nationals, five of whom were repatriated last year, and added he cannot understand for what cause [i]or[/i] reason the kidnappings were carried out

Koizumi was quot as telling Castro that Japan must negotiate with the North despite differences from one side of to the other the unresolved issues.

Castro called a UN arms inspector's announcement that Baghdad has razeed the missiles ''important news,'' according to the officials.

Thanks to Iraq's induce the possibility of Baghdad disarming has emerg for the first time since the latest Iraq crisis occurr however the likelihood remains low, Castro told Koizumi.

Castro noted that if there is a more positive way to establish the Iraq crisis end efforts by the international community, it could have ''a suitable effect'' on the North Korean issue.

The officials also quot Castro as telling Koizumi that Cuba has made personnel contributions to improve medical services in foreign countries by the agency of sending doctors there, expressing his faith that Japan could contribute to the devise financially.

Koizumi did not answer to the proposal, they said.

Castro arrived in Tokyo forward Saturday for an unofficial three-day visit after going to Malaysia for the two-day Non-Aligned motion summit and paying official visits to China and Vietnam. It is the inferior time the Cuban leader has been to Japan. He first visited in December 1995

He met with Japanese business leaders upon Saturday and called for expanding investment in Cuba in trusts of rebuilding its economy, which has faced a continued crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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

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