TOKYO, Feb 10 Kyodo Japan and the...

TOKYO, Feb 10 Kyodo

Japan and the European Union (EU) have agreed in bilateral talks in succession the need for the international community to pace up pressure on Iraq to disarm and forward North Korea to stop its nuclear program, Japanese officials said Monday.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi agreed with EU representative for foreign and security policy Javier Solana in respective meetings upon Monday and Sunday that Iraq has to disarm following UN Security Council resolutions, the officials said.

Koizumi was quot as telling Solana that Japan has urg North Korea to become a responsible member of the global community after dismantling its alleged nuclear weapons growth program.

Solana reportedly told Koizumi that EU countries have taken a ''common approach'' to pres Iraq to abandon weapons of mass destruction and to allow UN weapons inspectors to carry revealed their duties. They agreed that the UN has an important character to play in the issue.

The Japanese premier replied that Tokyo is asking Baghdad to dump its weapons of mass destruction in compliance with UN resolutions, the officials said.

Koizumi reportedly told Solana that Tokyo would umpire how to deal with Iraq after UN inspectors, l at Hans Blix, submit a report forward Baghdad's alleged possession of like weapons to the Security Council upon Friday. Solana said the EU would do likewise, the officials said.

Koizumi was also quot as telling the former Spanish foreign minister that Japan has told the United States of the importance of international cooperation in making Iraq disarm.

forward North Korea, Koizumi said Japan believes it is important that the one and the other bilateral and international issues related to the North are settl simultaneously, referring to touchs stemming from Pyongyang's nuclear program and its abductions of Japanese nationals in the late 1970 and early 1980s

Koizumi said Japan will hold working closely with the U and toward the south Korea, which will have a modern president -- Roh Moo Hyun -- later this month to deal with North Korean issues.

Solana said he will consign Japan's views to North Korea when an EU mission visits there, the officials said.

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