EXCLUSIVE - 2nd NKorea atom test would draw tough steps - Japan PM http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-01-05T163205Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-282385-2.xml
Fri Jan 5, 2007
By Linda Sieg
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that Japan and the rest of the international community would respond with strong steps if North Korea conducted a second nuclear test.
"If that were to happen, the international community including Japan would take tougher measures," Abe told Reuters in an interview.
But Abe, whose rise to Japan's top job owes much to public support for his tough stance towards Pyongyang, added that it was important to make efforts to resume six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme as soon as possible.
South Korean officials said on Friday that activity had been spotted near a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea, but that there was no evidence to suggest Pyongyang was about to test another atomic device.
ABC News reported that Pyongyang appeared to have made preparations for a new nuclear test to follow one conducted on Oct. 9 -- a move that drew swift world condemnation and punitive U.N. sanctions. But U.S. officials also said they had no evidence suggesting that a test was imminent.
Abe, who sets off on a European tour next Tuesday, said he would urge European countries to implement sanctions in line with a U.N. resolution adopted after Pyongyang's first nuclear test.
"I will be visiting Europe, the EU (European Union) and NATO, and I'd like to seek their understanding and cooperation on North Korea's nuclear issue and the abduction issue.
"We are approaching these issues with dialogue and pressure," he said. Referring to the United Nations Security Council resolution that imposed sanctions on North Korea after its nuclear test, Abe said, "U.N. resolution 1718 must be implemented by the international community and I would like to convey that to European countries, NATO and the EU."
Abe leaves on Tuesday on a trip that will take him to London, Berlin, Brussels and Paris before he heads for an East Asian leaders summit in the Philippines.
Abe became a household name in Japan four years ago by taking a strong stand on the sensitive topic of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies in the ways of Japanese language and culture.
He has made clear that Pyongyang must resolve the kidnappings as well as the issues of its nuclear and missile programmes before Japan will establish diplomatic relations and provide economic aid to its unpredictable neighbour.
Japan banned all imports from North Korea and prohibited North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports after Pyongyang fired a barrage of test missiles in July. Tokyo stopped exports of luxury goods in November and has been urging other nations to implement the U.N. sanctions imposed on the impoverished state.
The United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia failed at talks in Beijing last month to make progress towards persuading the North to suspend its nuclear programmes in exchange for aid and better ties with Washington and Tokyo.
North Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents had abducted 13 Japanese, sparking outrage in Japan.
Five of those were repatriated that same year, but Pyongyang says another eight are dead. Tokyo wants more information about the eight and four others it says were also kidnapped, and it wants survivors sent home.
U.S. intelligence estimates of the North's nuclear arsenal have ranged from one or two weapons to 10 or more.
(Additional reporting by Chisa Fujioka)
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