TOKYO: Japan and South Korea are scratching their heads on how to deal with North Korea, a week after Pyongyang confessed that it was undertaking a nuclear weapons programme and just days ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit where the issue will be discussed with the United States.

Washington, to which North Korea made the admission, is trying to develop a common response to Pyongyang with South Korea and Japan. It is also aiming to bring in China, the other country that wields influence over North Korea.

Thus far, Seoul and Tokyo have been trying to show support for the US call to be tough on North Korea. Its leaders will also meet to discuss North Korea with US President George W Bush in Mexico on Saturday, on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

But Japan and South Korea have interests that are prodding them to take a softer — some say more pragmatic — approach to Pyongyang’s admission that has been enriching uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the United States to shelve nuclear weapons development.

Some analysts say that North Korea may well know this, especially since its ties with Japan and South Korea were going well immediately before the surprise admission about nuclear weapons came about.

Trying to back Washington’s stand, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has said that Japan would no longer finance two nuclear reactors in North Korea. This was part of a previous deal to discourage Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, NHK news quoted Japanese lead negotiator for the normalization talks with North Korea, Kastunari Suzuki, as saying that a Oct 29-30 dialogue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, would continue as scheduled despite the row over North Korea’s nuclear programme.

South Korea, meantime, has been trying to defend its ‘sunshine policy’ with the North.

President Kim Dae Jung has warned against military or economic action against North Korea: “As everyone knows, military action can result in great tragedy. Nobody wants that.” Economic sanctions would only pin Pyongyang into a corner and give it “freedom for nuclear responses”, he added.

Before North Korea’s admission, South Korea and Japan had been hopeful that Pyongyang was coming out of its isolatiationist shell after retreating somewhat after Bush labelled it part of the ‘axis of evil’ earlier in the year.

In September, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi created history when he visited Pyongyang for a summit with Kim Jong Il.

During the summit, North Korea confessed to Japan’s long-time charge that it had kidnapped Japanese nationals in the seventies and eighties to train Pyongyang’s spies. North Korea also conveyed an agreement to freeze its nuclear weapons development.

But Koizumi’s diplomatic triumph was short-lived, quickly turning into a painful, and so far, persistent headache for Tokyo.

No sooner had Koizumi returned home when Pyongyang, faced with evidence from Washington’s intelligence officials, admitted to US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly that it has been secretly processing uranium for nuclear weapons.

South Korean officials were due to hold talks with their North Korean counterparts when the news of North Korea’s admission came up.

In the weekend talks, South Korean negotiators asked North Koreans to stop their nuclear programme, but got no reply. Subsequently, North Korean officials said they were willing to talk “if the United States withdraws its hostile policy”.

A statement issued by the North and South negotiators said the two Koreas would “actively cooperate to settle nuclear and all other issues through dialogue”.

Because North Korea’s neighbours fear the prospect of a nuclear bomb, South Korea and Japan have considerations different from the United States.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.