Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese delegation to the six-party talks, said in Beijing Thursday that Japan would participate in the international energy assistance for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) if the DPRK's nuclear-freezing initiative was confirmed, according to the Kyodo news service.  

Yabunaka, also director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said that Japan welcomed the detailed plans proposed Wednesday by the DPRK, the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) respectively, according to Kyodo.

It was the first time for Japan to make clear the possibility of its energy assistance for the DPRK during the six-party talks, Kyodo said.

The DPRK's proposal of nuclear freezing was the first step of giving up its nuclear programs, Kyodo quoted Yabunaka as saying.

However, Japan held that the nuclear-freezing should meet three conditions: all the nuclear programs should be frozen; the DPRK should make public all the information related to the nuclear programs; and verifiable inspections on nuclear-freezing should be carried out, Kyodo quoted Yabunaka as saying.

The nuclear freezing inspections should be implemented under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the official said.

The ultimate goal for the DPRK was to abandon the nuclear programs, said Yabunaka, noting that nuclear-freezing was only a short-term measure.

But Kyodo's reports have not been officially confirmed by the Japanese delegation nor the Japanese Embassy in China.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2004)