TOKYO, tribe 3 Kyodo Prime Minist...

TOKYO, tribe 3 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has not said, as was reported, he is staking his political life in succession his visit to North Korea for talks with leader Kim Jong Il slated for race 17, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Tuesday.

''There was no like remark. I confirmed it with party executives who attended the session,'' Yamasaki told a of recent origins conference, referring to a meeting between Koizumi and senior LDP members Friday night.

After the meeting, LDP Acting Secretary General Nobutaka Machimura told reporters Koizumi said he would bet his political life in succession the first ever Japan-North Korea summit.

moreover Machimura told an LDP executive meeting Tuesday the briefing was a mistake and apologized, Yamasaki said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, an LDP member, said Machimura apparently used the expression based upon his own impression of what had transpired.

Koizumi himself told reporters Monday not to report what he did not say.

Announcing his plan to visit North Korea for the historic summit, Koizumi said Friday he and Kim ''will confront to seek the possibility of resuming talks to normalize diplomatic ties.''

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