Rice reassures Japan amid fears of 2nd N.Korean test http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-10-18T101724Z_01_N14268552_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-2
Wed Oct 18, 2006
By Sue Pleming and Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured Japan on Wednesday that Washington would stand by a commitment to protect its Asian ally, where North Korea's atomic test has stirred debate about acquiring nuclear weapons.
"The United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range, and I underscore full range, of its deterrent and security commitments to Japan," Rice told a news conference in Tokyo, the first stop on a quick tour of North Asia.
The secretary of state will head from Japan to Seoul and Beijing, seeking a unified stance on U.N. sanctions slapped on Pyongyang for its test of a nuclear device on October 9.
She arrived in Tokyo as intelligence experts warned that satellites had seen an increase in activity at the North's suspected test site, suggesting a second detonation was imminent.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told the news conference with Rice that his government had "absolutely no intentions now of preparing to possess nuclear weapons".
"There is no need to have nuclear weapons as the Japan-U.S. security framework will be activated for the defense of Japan," he said. "And Secretary Rice has just reconfirmed that."
Japan, the only country to have suffered from the effects of nuclear bombing, has long forsworn nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang appeared unperturbed by the flurry of diplomatic activity, widespread outrage and U.N. sanctions. A foreign ministry statement said on Tuesday that North Korea had withstood international pressure before and was hardly likely to yield now it had become a nuclear power.
SECOND NUCLEAR TEST?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made his first public appearance since the test in Pyongyang on Tuesday night at a massive choreographed sound-and-light extravaganza to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the "Down with Imperialism Union", a precursor to the ruling Communist Workers Party.
Kim listened enthusiastically to a concert where songs such as "Love of Comrades" and "Always looking up to the Leader" were performed, the official KCNA news agency said.
U.S. officials said North Korea had moved equipment into a place that may indicate it plans a second nuclear test. NBC television quoted officials as saying the North's military had already informed China.
But South Korea said it was not aware of an imminent test. "As we understand it, China has not received such a notice. We understand the North has not given notice of such a plan," South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung told reporters.
DIPLOMATIC CAMPAIGN
Rice arrived in Asia as the Bush administration begins a diplomatic campaign to rally international support for sanctions agreed on Saturday. After Japan, she goes to South Korea on Thursday and Beijing on Friday.
Her biggest challenge will be to get firm assurances from China, worried over the possible collapse of its impoverished neighbor, that it will follow through diligently on the U.N. resolution.
"We want very much this to be done in a way that is steady, effective and brings close scrutiny to North Korean transfers (of potential weapons material)," she said. "But this is not a blockade or quarantine, and so we want to work out the details."
In Dandong on China's border with North Korea, Chinese customs agents checked papers and trucks on Wednesday, but there was no sign of increased scrutiny.
However, the overseas edition of the People's Daily -- the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party -- said North Korea's test had "touched China's warning-line", adding that it had increased the common interest among Beijing, Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.
In the analysis, the paper also said China could cut off vital food and fuel aid to North Korea if Pyongyang continues to escalate the situation.
(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz, Jonathan Thatcher, Kang Shinhye and Hong Ki-soo in Seoul, Chris Buckley in Beijing, George Nishiyama and Teruaki Ueno in Tokyo and Steve Holland in Washington)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.