LEAD) Lee, Hatoyama agree to work on N. Korea's denuclearization, bilateral ties

((ATTN: UPDATES with quotes, details of summit)
By Byun Duk-kun
NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reaffirmed Wednesday the necessity of maintaining
current international penalties on North Korea while urging the communist state
to return to talks on its denuclearization.

"It is better to resolve the issue through dialogue, but we need to keep pressure
on the North through international cooperation if necessary," the Japanese leader
was quoted as telling Lee.
Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said the two leaders agreed to continue
implementing U.N. Security Council sanctions while also working to encourage
North Korea to return to talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambition.
The U.N. sanctions were imposed shortly after the North conducted its second
atomic test in May, despite its 2005 agreement at the six-party talks to
dismantle its nuclear programs.
North Korea in April declared its withdrawal from six-way denuclearization talks,
but recently said it was willing to return to bilateral or multilateral
negotiations on its nuclear programs.
The South Korean president said Pyongyang's recent conciliatory gesture was
largely prompted by the effect of the U.N. sanctions, according to his top
secretary for public relations, Lee Dong-kwan.
"Basically, the North is not showing any sincere signs of willingness to give up
its nuclear ambition," President Lee was quoted as saying.
The Lee-Hatoyama meeting was preceded by Lee's meeting with Chinese President Hu
Jintao earlier Wednesday, also held on the sidelines of the U.N. General
Assembly. China hosts the six-party talks that also involve South Korea, the
United States, Japan and Russia.
Lee and the Japanese leader also discussed ways to improve the Korea-Japan
relations as Wednesday's meeting marked the first summit between the two since
Hatoyama came into office earlier this month.
The Japanese prime minister said unlike its conservative predecessors, his party
was "courageous enough" to "look straight in the face of history," according to
the South Korean official.
Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945, the years during which
Korean women were sexually enslaved and men were mobilized for forced labor.
Lee welcomed the remarks and urged mutual efforts to build a relationship based
on complete trust.
"I believe Prime Minister Hatoyama will fully play such a role and I am ready to
do the same," the president said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)