DATE=03/22/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287844

TITLE=JAPAN / SOUTH KOREA (SHORT)

BYLINE=AMY BICKERS

DATELINE=TOKYO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT

INTRO: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on his visit to South Korea he is willing to pursue talks with North Korea. But, as V-O-A's Amy Bickers reports from our Northeast Asia News Center, Mr. Koizumi is not ready to restart food shipments to North Korea .

TEXT: Mr. Koizumi said Friday in Seoul he would pursue vigorous dialogue with North Korea, but added food aid shipments would remain suspended for now. Tokyo provided the impoverished nation with food shipments until last year, when there was a national uproar over Pyongyang's alleged abduction of at least 11 Japanese nationals.

Tokyo believes the people were abducted so that they could help train North Korean spies in Japanese language and customs. North Korea denies that charge.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said after meeting with Mr. Koizumi the two leaders pledged to coordinate their efforts on dialogue with North Korea in close cooperation with the United States.

They also signed an accord to boost bilateral investment and to begin the process of establishing free trade. The two leaders are meeting in advance of the World Cup soccer finals in May and June, which their nations will co-host.

They say they are eager build a strong, long-lasting alliance, despite lingering tensions relating to Japan's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. (SIGNED)

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