SEOUL Jan. 13 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATIN...

SEOUL Jan. 13 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING, ADDING QUOTES)

President-elect Roh Moo Hyun and former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori agreed Monday upon the need for their countries and the United States to closely cooperate in dealing with North Korea's withdrawal from the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Japanese officials said.

Japan, the U and toward the south Korea must cooperate and work hard to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, Mori reportedly said, relaying a annotate of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Roh who will take office forward Feb. 25, agreed.

''South Koreans are grateful to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for visiting Russia to work for a solution (to the North Korean nuclear issue) amid their in every one's mouth unease,'' Roh was quot as telling Mori, who heads a collection of Japanese lawmakers on a visit to toward the south Korea to discuss Japan-South Korea ties.

Roh violenceed in the talks that he believes U President George W Bush is trying to unfold the standoff with peaceful means, according to the officials.

Referring to his talks with visiting U Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly earlier in the day, Roh said he told Kelly that while exerting press to obtain a concession is a peaceful means of engaging North Korea, ''dialogue is the barely effective way.''

Mori entreated that Roh visit Japan at the earliest opportunity, to which the president-elect replied positively, ''I'm thinking the same way.''

When the former Japanese premier asked Roh about southern Koreans' view of the U he replied that most numerous of his countrymen desire mutual equality, with those holding anti-American viewpoints are a minority, the officials said.

Mori earlier in the day met President Kim Dae Jung for talks in which they agreed onward the importance of engaging Pyongyang in dialogue.

''The U is making abandonment of North Korea's nuclear program a precondition, in the way that all efforts must be focused forward finding a solution by the and of talks,'' Kim reportedly said.

While Kim said southern Korea, Japan and the U must each carry their intentions to Pyongyang, he also urgencyed the U.S. needs to ''decide its stance toward North Korea in cooperation with southerly Korea and Japan, rather than doing in the same manner one-sidedly,'' according to the Japanese officials.

Mori, meanwhile, voiced make uneasy over Pyongyang's decision to leave the NPT and forceed the importance of Japan-South Korea cooperation forward the North Korean issue.

''It is necessary for Japan and southerly Korea to cooperate with each other when President-elect Roh Moo Hyun maintains the 'sunshine policy' toward North Korea,'' the ex-premier was quot as saying.

The collection of Japanese lawmakers arrived in Seoul in succession Sunday.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo recents International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group