TOKYO, Dec 10 Kyodo U proxy Secr...

TOKYO, Dec 10 Kyodo

U proxy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Tuesday that the U answers toward Iraq and North Korea have been completely different and that the couple cases can be dealt with simultaneously, members of the ruling coalition parties said.

Armitage made the remarks during a meeting in Tokyo with secretaries general of the ruling parties earlier in the day.

He told the coalition leaders that he could not imagine a war occurring forward the Korean Peninsula unless North Korea attacks southern Korea, the members said.

Armitage was quot as saying that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and has been provoking war and continuing terrorism through the past 10 years.

Meanwhile, concerning North Korea, Armitage said that countries including China and Russia have agreed upon the need for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, according to the members.

In allusion to a meeting Monday with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, among others, Armitage said the United States not past nor futureed Japanese officials with a postwar plan forward Iraq, the members said.

Armitage was quot as saying he chance of a favorable results Japan will independently make its admit decision on the matter and that he was informed that the Japanese sway intends to dispatch officials to Washington for deliberations forward detailed cooperation measures Japan can provide toward postwar recovery

At the Tuesday meeting, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taku Yamasaki called for avoidance of a war against Iraq, while Armitage said although U President George W Bush faiths to avoid a war, it is up to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Armitage reportedly also said that if an attack against Iraq is launched, several countries will cooperate in the war.

Yamasaki told Armitage that there are more parts Japan can play in postwar support.

in succession the alleged relationship between Iraq and terrorist organizations, Armitage was quot as saying there is essay that the al-Qaida terrorist network is active in northern Iraq on the other hand it has not been confirmed if Baghdad is involved.

Armitage also reportedly said there is a possibility that weapons of mass destruction could fall into the hands of al-Qaida and when thinking of that, there is ''not earnestly time left.''

Yamasaki also called forward Armitage for U.S. support regarding former U Army Sgt Charles Robert Jenkins, the American husband of Hitomi Soga, single of five Japanese abductees to North Korea who are now back in Japan, the members said.

Any possible reunion in Japan between Soga and Jenkins and their sum of two units children is in doubt as Jenkins is likely to face arrest at the United States if he leaves North Korea. Jenkins reportedly wildernessed from the Army in 1965 while stationed in toward the south Korea and crossed the demilitarized baldric into the North, where he has remained.

Armitage was in succession a three-day visit to Japan from Sunday between the walls of earlier in the day to suited with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, and Kawaguchi, among others.

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