Japan 'absolutely cannot tolerate' N. Korea's nuke development: Kan+

TOKYO, Nov. 22 Kyodo - Japan ''absolutely cannot tolerate'' North Korea's nuclear weapons development, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Monday, after a report surfaced on the weekend about North Korea's purported uranium enrichment facility.

His remark was made in light of a report posted on the Internet Saturday by a
U.S. nuclear expert who said that during a recent visit to North Korea he saw
''more than a thousand centrifuges'' in operation at a uranium enrichment
facility at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
It is the first time that the North's uranium enrichment facilities have been
confirmed by an expert from outside the country.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, the premier's right-hand man, said at
a news conference that the revelation, if confirmed true, is an ''extremely
alarming matter'' from the standpoint of Japan's security and regional peace
and stability.
''We would like to firmly cooperate with the United States and other countries
to address this matter,'' Kan told reporters, vowing to work together with
Japan's partners in efforts to denuclearize the North.
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who met Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special
representative for North Korea policy, in Tokyo, said at the outset of their
talks that such a move ''infringes on the substance and the spirit of past U.N.
resolutions'' to impose sanctions on the North over its nuclear program.
Japan is part of a six-party framework which also involves the two Koreas,
China, Russia and the United States aimed at North Korea's denuclearization.
The six-party talks have been deadlocked since December 2008.
==Kyodo