Japanese, French foreign ministers share `seriously concerns over Iran+

TOKYO, March 18 Kyodo -
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Thursday he and his French
counterpart Bernard Kouchner shared ''serious concerns'' over the Iranian
nuclear problem ahead of a Group of Eight foreign ministerial meeting later
this month in Canada.
Okada, meanwhile, said he told the French minister that Japan hopes to join as
early as possible an international treaty over child custody, to address
custody problems that arise when failed international marriages result in
children wrongfully being brought to Japan by a parent.
The situation in North Korea was also discussed during their talks in Tokyo,
with Kouchner telling Okada that while France plans to open a nongovernmental
office in the North, it has no intention of establishing bilateral diplomatic
ties at the moment.
After a meeting that touched on a wide range of issues including climate
change, the French minister of foreign and European affairs said at a joint
press conference with Okada, ''Japan and France mostly share the same opinion
on diplomatic issues.''
On the Iranian nuclear issue, Okada told the press conference, ''We shared
serious concerns. We also agreed that we have to stand strong over this
issue.''
Okada also said that the seriousness of the problem would be ''immeasurable''
if Iran comes to possess nuclear weapons, adding that Japan would ''not
hesitate'' to implement a new resolution against Iran if it is adopted at the
U.N. Security Council.
But both ministers stressed the need to continue dialogue with Tehran.
In relation to moves to impose a sanctions resolution on Iran, Kouchner said at
a press conference earlier in the day that China, a veto-wielding permanent
member of the U.N. Security Council, has ''refused'' but that he hopes to ''get
a result one of these days.''
As for bilateral ties between France and North Korea, Kouchner said at the
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan that France plans to open an office in
the North to help nongovernmental organizations working there, while noting
that the office is ''not an embassy.''
The official Korean Central News Agency said in December that North Korea had
agreed to a French proposal to open an office in Pyongyang as a first step
toward normalizing bilateral relations.
France is the only major country in the European Union that does not maintain
diplomatic ties with North Korea.
Kouchner is on a two-day visit to Japan from Thursday, according to the
Japanese Foreign Ministry. He will head to South Korea on Friday.
He also paid a courtesy call on Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
On the so-called international parental child abduction issue, Japan is
considering joining the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction.
The convention provides a procedure for the prompt return of such ''abducted''
children to their habitual country of residence and secures protection of
rights of access to parents to their children.
Complaints are growing over cases in which a Japanese parent, often mothers,
bring a child to Japan without the consent of the other foreign parent, or
regardless of custody determination in other countries, and denies the other
parent access to the child.
Japan is the only country among the Group of Seven industrialized nations that
is not a party to the Hague Convention.
==Kyodo