Japan ex-PM Koizumi willing to visit N Korea: Report

Tokyo, Dec 7: Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he is willing to visit North Korea for a third time to help break a diplomatic stalemate between the two countries, domestic media reported today.

The report coincides with efforts to resume stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programme.

Koizumi, who left office in September, visited Pyongyang as prime minister in 2002 and 2004 for summit meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

His first visit yielded the ''Pyongyang Declaration'', under which North Korea pledged to uphold all international treaties on nuclear issues, extend a moratorium on ballistic missile launches and resolve all issues related to the ''lives and security'' of Japanese nationals, a reference to Japanese kidnapped by its agents decades ago.

''I want to revive the Pyongyang Declaration,'' Koizumi was quoted as saying by a fellow lawmaker in the Yomiuri newspaper.

''I could visit North Korea for a third time for that purpose,'' he was quoted as saying yesterday, adding that if he were to go, he would act as a special envoy for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Analysts saw a trip by Koizumi as unlikely.

''Even if this were realistic, the timing is too early,'' said Masao Okonogi, a Korea expert at Tokyo's Keio University, adding there would have to be some progress toward resuming the six-party talks for a trip by Koizumi to be meaningful.

North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States are participants in the talks.

Yasunori Sone, a professor specialising in domestic politics at Keio, said there was no prospect that a visit would resolve the nuclear and abduction issues.

''Koizumi has said he doesn't want to create problems for Abe, but this would have a big impact,'' he said.

Any trip by Koizumi would be likely to upstage Abe, whose support ratings are falling as he struggles with a domestic agenda that includes reforming the education system.

Abe's foreign policy has proved more popular with the public.

He took a tough stance against North Korea after the communist state test-fired a barrage of missiles in July and conducted a nuclear test in October.

Sanctions imposed by Japan include a ban on all imports from North Korea and a ban on exports of luxury goods to the impoverished country.

Reuters