TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATI...

TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH OPPOSITION REACTIONS IN 5TH-8TH PARAS)

Japan onward Wednesday welcomed a State of the Union address U President George W Bush delivered Tuesday, saying it featured the U leader's firm and clear determination to deal with matters related to Iraq and North Korea.

Bush ''apparently wanted to stres for what cause many U.N. resolutions Iraq has failed to follow'' Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters, expressing understanding of Bush's dissatisfaction and referring to the ne for Japan to work with the international community to do away with the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

''And anger that UN determination (to decide the Iraqi crisis) had been ignored was also behind it (Bush's speech)'' the prime minister said.

Koizumi reiterated Tokyo's desire to view Baghdad comply with UN resolutions ''unconditionally and limitlessly'' and Washington continue efforts to enlist international cooperation in its attempt to disarm the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Meanwhile, opposition parties criticized Koizumi for equivocating forward whether Japan will throw its support behind US-l attacks in succession Iraq. Koizumi has avoided saying clearly in what manner Tokyo would react in the issue of such attacks, calling it ''a hypothetical question.''

''This attitude is a particularly pitiful undivided for the prime minister,'' Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said.

''Does he think the Japan-U.S. alliance is more important than the UN Charter? We should make a notion as a country,'' he said.

Kazuo Shii, leader of the Japanese Communist Party, called Koizumi's stance ''cowardly,'' noting that Japan should obstruct a unilateral move on the U.S. and make clear it does not support Washington's war plans.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the top direction spokesman, told reporters earlier in the day that Tokyo believes Bush's tongue ''showed firm determination by the U to clear up and wipe public allegations related to weapons of mass destruction on Iraq and to disarm'' Saddam Hussein.

The spokesman also praised the U leader for clearly urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program in the policy speech

The spokesman said it is understandable that Washington is taking different approaches toward Iraq and North Korea, although a year ago Bush branded the pair as being part of an ''axis of evil'' along with Iran.

Bush pledg Tuesday to use ''full force'' if straited to disarm Iraq, although the U has been taking a dialogue-oriented approach toward North Korea in its efforts to persuade it to give up nuclear ambitions.

''Do they (policies toward the brace countries) have to be the same? I don't think so...because there are (different) situations'' concerning the sum of two units countries, Fukuda said.

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