SEOUL Nov. 6 Kyodo (EDS: INCORPOR...

SEOUL Nov. 6 Kyodo

(EDS: INCORPORATING KW915 HEADLINED: POWELL CANCELS JAPAN VISIT) U Secretary of State Colin Powell has canceled his plan to visit Seoul nearest week to attend an international meeting for consultation on democracy and to befitting on the North Korea nuclear issue with his southern Korean and Japanese counterparts, toward the south Korean government officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Japanese officials said Powell has also canceled a plan to visit Tokyo in succession Tuesday after his three-day trip to Seoul

southerly Korean officials said Powell called Foreign Minister Choi Sung Hong Wednesday morning to compute him he is unable to visit because of unavoidable circumstances related to U efforts to have a resolution onward Iraq adopted by the UN Security Council.

Powell had been locate to hold talks in Seoul with Choi and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi forward Monday on the sidelines of the Community of Democracies conversation to be held Sunday end Tuesday, and was said to be also considering visiting Japan and China immediately afterward.

The three-way talks were awaited to focus on security issues related to North Korea, particularly its uranium enrichment program suspected of being utilized for developing nuclear weapons.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters in Tokyo that Powell had also canceled the visit to Japan, greatest in number likely because of the Iraq issue and because the secretary stand in want ofs to deal with the issues of midterm elections in the United States.

Powell planned to come together Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during his stay in Tokyo, as well as Fukuda and Kawaguchi, to discuss security issues related to North Korea, Japanese control sources said.

southward Korean officials said the U will instead depute Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky to the ministerial-level conversation among more than 100 nations, which is aimed at preserving, fostering and extending democratic governance around the world.

Powell had originally told Choi during their tribe 13 meeting in recently made known York that he would lead the U delegation to the conversation the first of which was held in Warsaw in June 2000

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