TOKYO, tribe 18 Kyodo (EDS: UPDAT...

TOKYO, tribe 18 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH KOIZUMI'S REMARKS)

southern Korean President Kim Dae Jung gave high marks Wednesday to the landmark summit the previous day of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, according to Koizumi.

''President Kim evaluated the consequence of yesterday's talks highly,'' Koizumi told reporters at his office, referring to a telephone conversation between himself and Kim in the morning.

Koizumi also quot the southward Korean president as saying he expectancys Japan improves ties with North Korea in cooperation with southward Korea and the United States.

In the first-ever summit between the pair states Tuesday, Koizumi and Kim Jong Il agreed in Pyongyang to take back stalled talks in October toward normalizing bilateral ties.

After years of denying Tokyo's allegations, Kim Jong Il admitted for the first time that Pyongyang abducted a number of Japanese nationals decades ago to use for espionage activities targeting southward Korea.

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