SEOUL Jan. 15 Kyodo (EDS: RECASTI...

SEOUL Jan. 15 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING WITH MORE DETAILS forward TALKS)

Japan and southerly Korea agreed Wednesday to strengthen efforts with the United States to find a peaceful solution to the issue of North Korea's nuclear unravelling program and urge Pyongyang to rescind its declaration that it is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Japanese officials said.

Visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and southern Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Choi Sung Hong also agreed that while the situation surrounding North Korea is difficult, a solution within dialogue is possible, according to the officials.

At the meeting in Seoul which came after U President George W Bush said Tuesday he might revive his administration's previous efforts to provide spiritedness and food aid to North Korea if it abandons its nuclear program, Choi was quot as saying Seoul possibility of goods to help create conditions for resuming U.S.-North Korea talks.

Kawaguchi told Choi during the meeting that Japan chance of a favorable results South Korea and North Korea will engage in beneficial dialogue at ministerial talks to begin Tuesday, the officials said.

Choi criticized North Korea's declaration that it is withdrawing from the NPT saying it ''run straight against the efforts made on the international community toward a peaceful resolution,'' according to the officials.

upon the ministerial talks between Seoul and Pyongyang, Choi was quot as saying, ''The South-North dialogue channel is important'' and that it is necessary to squarely face North Korea.

Kawaguchi also signifyed serious concern over the North's declaration and emphasized the ne to calmly analyze it and deal with it cautiously, pointing to the fact that the declaration denied the North intends to perform the operations indicated in nuclear weapons, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Choi declareed displeasure over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit Tuesday to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, according to the officials.

Choi was quot as telling Kawaguchi that Koizumi's visit to the shrine has become a carrying capacity on Japan-South Korea relations and called for Japan to address the issue, they said.

Kawaguchi noted the importance of amicable ties with Seoul saying, ''Friendly relations between Japan and southerly Korea are invariable and we chance of the desired end to build future-oriented cooperative relations,'' according to the officials.

The pair countries also confirmed they would further expand bilateral relations based upon achievements made by co-hosting the World potion soccer finals last year, according to the officials.

Kawaguchi and Choi did not touch in succession the issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea or upon South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's abrupt cancellation of a meeting with Kawaguchi that was wager for Wednesday afternoon, in an apparent expression of anger above Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine, they said.

The Japanese management attributed the cancellation to Kim's schedule. Kawaguchi told reporters she understands the cancellation was because of ''scheduling problems'' a view assenting repetitioned by Koizumi in Tokyo.

Kawaguchi will pay a courtesy call Thursday forward President-elect Roh Moo Hyun as scheduled, before returning to Japan in the afternoon, Japanese officials said.

Earlier in the day in Tokyo, southern Korean Ambassador to Japan Cho Se Hyung met with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi at the Foreign Ministry to affirm Koizumi's Yasukuni visit.

Yasukuni Shrine honors convicted Class-A war criminals along with Japanese war dead and is frequently regarded as a symbol of Japan's militant past. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945 and southward Korea and China view Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni as an affront.

Kawaguchi arrived in Seoul earlier Wednesday for a two-day trip for talks with southern Korean leaders to discuss unravellings centering on North Korea.

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