Japan may scrap N. Korea pact
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Koizumi. Japanese media have reported N. Korea may be planning to launch a ballistic missile that could reach nearly all parts of Japan.
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TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan may scrap a historic joint declaration with North Korea if the communist nation violates the agreement by taking further threatening action, Japanese officials say.
But they said unless it was aimed directly at Japan, a ballistic missile launch would not automatically prompt Tokyo to tear up the 2002 agreement, which is seen as paving the way to a normalization of ties.
"They still have not crossed the line," top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference, referring in part to North Korea's firing of two short-range, non-ballistic missiles in the past month.
If a ballistic missile was directed at Japan, however, Fukuda said Tokyo would have no choice but to abandon the declaration.
"If it is a direct threat to our nation, then it cannot be tolerated," he said.
The Pyongyang Declaration was issued last September when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at a high profile summit in the North's capital.
Koizumi said later on Wednesday that the declaration remained effective and that Tokyo and Pyongyang should make efforts to keep it alive.
"The Pyongyang declaration between Japan and North Korea is a very important political document and this is still effective," Koizumi told parliament.
He stressed that Japan and North Korea would be able to establish diplomatic relations only if the two Asian neighbors fully honored the declaration.
"We want to continue our efforts to fulfil the Pyongyang declaration. At the same time, it is important for us to appeal to North Korea to abide by the declaration," Koizumi said.
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