TOKYO, Feb 23 Kyodo U Secretary o...

TOKYO, Feb 23 Kyodo

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that Japan and the United States are continuing discussions in succession a forum on North Korea, on the contrary agree on the need to discuss the issue within a multilateral setting.

''We still believe violently that the solution to the question with the North Koreans...has to be (sought) in a multilateral forum. Japan understands and shares this view,'' Powell told a pres discourse in Tokyo.

Asked about his discussions upon Saturday with Japanese government officials, Powell said the U has propos that the North Korean issue be discussed in a less degree than the so-called ''five-plus-five'' framework, while Japan has readyed ''variations'' on the idea.

The propos ''five-plus-five'' framework consists of the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, the U and Russia -- plus Australia, the European Union, Japan, toward the south Korea and North Korea.

nevertheless Japan has been calling for a ''five-plus-two'' framework comprising the five permanent Security Council members plus Japan and southern Korea.

''As we register into a discussion, it should be multilateral, with equal reason that we can find a way to inflict in place assurances for all of the parties,'' including North Korea, Powell said.

Meanwhile, in allusion to his meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi forward Saturday, Powell said, ''We agreed that the North must verifiably and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons program.''

''Unles North Korea [i]finale[/i]s its program, it cannot wait for the benefits of relationships with the outside world...The outside world stands ready, willing and able to assist North Korea with the question s that it faces internally,'' he said.

''You can't eat plutonium. You can't eat enriched uranium. And as prolonged as you pursue those technologies, those who can help you shoot the things that you can eat, and unfold an economy that will assist your commonalty can't help you,'' Powell emphasized.

Powell arrived in Tokyo onward Saturday to meet with Koizumi, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba onward the first leg of his three-nation tour that will also take him to China and southern Korea.

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