Bush, Koizumi warn North Korea against missile launch

WASHINGTON - US President George W Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi used a White House summit today to warn North Korea against test-firing a long-range missile.

The two leaders, underscoring security threats that have bound their countries closer together, called on Pyongyang to fulfil its "denuclearisation pledges" amid signs it may soon test a missile capable of reaching the United States.

While highlighting the chummy relationship he has developed with Koizumi over the past five years, Bush took the opportunity to build on earlier US threats of a harsh response if North Korea goes ahead with a secrecy-shrouded launch.

"We both agreed that it's very important for us to remain united in sending a clear message to the North Korean leader that, first of all, launching the missile is unacceptable," Bush said at a joint news conference with Koizumi.

"There's been no briefings as to what's on top of the missile. He hasn't told anybody where the missile's going. He has an obligation ... to those of us who are concerned about this as to what his intentions are," Bush said.

Koizumi said if North Korea fired off the missile, "we would apply various pressures". But he declined to give details on any measures he had discussed with Bush. US officials have said the North Koreans may have finished fueling the missile.

Experts say North Korea is developing long-range missiles to have the capability one day to deliver a nuclear bomb, but add Pyongyang is years away from having such a weapons system.

The first time North Korea test-fired a long-range missile -- in 1998 over Japan -- it rattled financial markets and raised fears among the Japanese.

Bush said he and Koizumi had talked about the need to work together "to bring a resolution to this issue about nuclear weapons", referring to long-stalled six-party talks to curb North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.

In a joint statement that could annoy China, Bush and Koizumi said they "affirmed that a robust US-Japan cooperation embraces the dynamism of China, and helps to maintain peace and tranquillity in Northeast Asia".

Both Tokyo and Washington have urged Beijing to make its rising military spending more transparent to clear up any doubts about its intentions.

Beijing, which nurses grievances about imperial Japan's invasion of China in the 1930s, has viewed some aspects of the US-Japanese security alliance with suspicion.

Koizumi's visit, including a joint trip on Friday to Graceland, home of the late Elvis Presley, is being billed as a "sayonara summit" because Koizumi steps down in September.

Their strong friendship began during a game of catch at Camp David in 2001 and is buoyed by a common affinity for baseball and cowboy movies.

For Koizumi, a big fan of Elvis, tomorrow's trip to Memphis will be a special thrill. "Officially, he's here to see the president, but I know the highlight of his visit will be paying his respects to the King," Bush joked.

The wavy-haired Koizumi, 64, is seen in Japan as a maverick with keen political instincts.

Despite political risks at home, Koizumi sent troops to Iraq in Japan's most dangerous overseas deployment since World War Two, though it has begun pulling out its 550 troops from the southern Iraqi city of Samawa.

Some analysts worry that anger in China and South Korea over Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine might hamper efforts to build unity over North Korea. The shrine is seen in Asia as a symbol of Japanese militarism because convicted war criminals are among those honored.

- REUTERS