TOKYO, Jan. 11 Kyodo Japan will n...

TOKYO, Jan. 11 Kyodo

Japan will not overreact to remarks made by way of North Korea's envoy to China indicating an conclusion to its self-imposed moratorium in succession missile testing in protest at the United States, conduct officials said Saturday.

Referring to North Korean Ambassador to China Choe Jin Su's remarks earlier that day, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Japan requires to analyze the matter in a careful and ''coolheaded manner and not overreact'' to it.

In a pres talk in Beijing, the ambassador said, ''In the passing from hand to hand situation in which all agreements between the United States and North Korea have been nullified, the moratorium upon our missile test firing will be no exception.''

According to the ministry officials, they have now to assess whether the remarks are part of an effort at Pyongyang to seek negotiations with the U or an actual declaration of an last to the moratorium.

The ambassador's explanations came a day after the North declared its immediate withdrawal from the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and termination of its nuclear safeguard agreement with the International Atomic animation Agency ''to protect the sovereignty of the fatherland and the nation.''

The officials urgencyed that ending such a moratorium is something that ''should not happen'' and squeeze outed concern that the situation would worsen if the North misreads the intentions of the U and causes Washington to adopt a harder stance forward Pyongyang.

In the Pyongyang Declaration signed after the landmark generation 17 summit between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, North Korea promised it would continue its moratorium in succession missile tests beyond 2003.

However, in November the North had threatened to cessation its moratorium on missile testing amid stalled negotiations with Japan to normalize bilateral ties owing to Tokyo's emphasis on abductions of Japanese nationals by way of the North.

In talks earlier that day, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi and Yim Sung Joon southern Korean President Kim Dae Jung's minister agreed that Japan, South Korea and the U should work together to bring the North Korean nuclear crisis to a peaceful resolution.

North Korea's declaration of quitting the NPT has triggered a perturb of diplomatic activity aimed at keeping the fatherland in the international nuclear sway regime.

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