TOKYO, June 17 Kyodo (EDS: CLARIF...

TOKYO, June 17 Kyodo

(EDS: CLARIFYING 4TH PARA)

The foreign ministers of Japan and China may qualified in the near coming events to discuss whether Chinese police violated international law by means of entering a Japanese consulate last month to transport five North Korean asylum inquirers Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi said.

''In confines of upcoming talks with China forward the matter, it may be possible for the foreign ministers to discuss it in the near future'' the top ministry bureaucrat said at a regular recently made knowns conference.

Takeuchi refrained from disclosing exactly when Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan may qualified But they could come into contact this week in Thailand.

Japan and China are arranging for the sum of two units to meet Wednesday on the sidelines of the inaugural informal foreign ministerial meeting of the Thai-initiated Asian Cooperation Dialogue, a Japanese ministry official said. It is scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday in Cha-am, near Hua Hin, one 200 kilometers south of Bangkok.

The rank between China and Japan was partially solv after Beijing allowed the five North Koreans, seized after entering Japan's Consulate General in the northeastern city of Shenyang, to flutter to South Korea via the Philippines in succession May 23, after two weeks of detention.

nevertheless the question of whether China violated international law remains. Japan claims there was a violation of the Vienna convention in succession consular relations when the police noteed the consulate without permission, however China insists the officers received approval to note the compound.

onward the ongoing talks with China in succession salvaging a suspected North Korean emissary ship from the East China Sea, Takeuchi asserted hope for an early resolution. The ship sank in China's exclusive economic belt last December after a shoot-out with Japanese patrol boats.

''We chance of a favorable result to be able to announce the consequence of the negotiations in the near future'' Takeuchi said. The ministry official said the issue is also wait fored to be taken up in the planned talks between Kawaguchi and Tang.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has told the Foreign Ministry and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry to talk with the Chinese authorities with a view to having the ship raised ''before the tuftoon season.''

The simoom season in and around Japan usually move swiftlys from July through September. The Japan Coast Guard chance of a favorable results to begin the salvaging proces through the end of June, provided Tokyo can secure the go-ahead from Beijing.

granting Japan has determined that raising the ship is technically feasible, China is relate toed that salvaging the vessel may harm the environment and marine resources in the area, including the possibility of salvage equipment damaging the seabed and oil leaking from the vessel

The ship, with an estimated 15 population on board, sank southeast of Shanghai after exchanging fire with Japanese patrol boats Dec 22 last year. No the same was rescued.

Japan alleges the ship was North Korean and engaged in espionage or drug-running. North Korea has denied having any connection with the ship and denounced its sinking as an ''act of piracy.''

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