Japan, Vietnam agree on importance of denuclearizing Korean Peninsula

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TOKYO, April 20 Kyodo -
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and visiting Vietnamese Communist Party chief
Nong Duc Manh agreed Monday on the importance of denuclearizing the Korean
Peninsula, a Foreign Ministry official said.
They also agreed that the leaders of the two countries would start making
reciprocal visits annually, Aso said.
''We agreed to enhance the strategic partnership which has been built between
Japan and Vietnam to seek peace and prosperity in Asia,'' Aso told a news
conference following his talks with Manh.
On North Korean issues, Manh expressed hope for a resumption of the stalled
six-party talks on reining in Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Aso told Manh that Japan would like to cooperate with Vietnam, which has
diplomatic ties with North Korea, in an effort to have Pyongyang act in line
with a presidential statement adopted by the U.N. Security Council in the wake
of the North's April 5 rocket launch, the official said.
North Korea has threatened to withdraw from the six-party talks, rejecting the
nonbinding Security Council statement condemning the North's rocket launch.
Japan and Vietnam are nonpermanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
The United States showed a move toward one-to-one talks with the North after
the rocket launch, suspected by many to be a cover for a long-range ballistic
missile test. According to a senior Japanese government official, however,
Washington has given Japan assurances that it has accepted Tokyo's call for
prioritizing the maintenance of the six-party framework, which involves two
Koreas, Japan, the United States, China and Russia.
Regarding exchanges by the leaders of Japan and Vietnam, Aso said he was
invited by Manh to visit Vietnam and would like to visit ''at a convenient
time.''
Aso told Manh that Japan will continue to support Vietnam with its economic
development and the two leaders agreed to step up efforts for effective use of
Japan's official development assistance as well as eradicating corruption.
Japan resumed its government loans to Vietnam late last month after suspending
its official assistance to the Southeast Asian country in the summer of 2008
following the revelation of a bribery case involving Vietnamese government
officials and Japanese consultant companies.
According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two agreed to work
on putting into effect at an early date an economic partnership agreement
signed last December.
==Kyodo