Japan told South Korea on Friday that the two governments should keep expressing strong concerns over India's nuclear tests last week and Pakistan's suspected preparations for its own tests so that North Korea will not be encouraged to follow suit.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto made the comment to South Korean Foreign and Trade Minister Park Chung Soo, Foreign Ministry officials said. Hashimoto told Park that the two countries should cooperate in dealing with the issue, the officials said. Park responded that the South Korean government is highly concerned about the situation concerning India and Pakistan, but the two did not discuss the issue further, the officials said.
Japan has frozen new yen loans to India to protest its nuclear tests. Japan and South Korea are members of an international consortium to build two nuclear power plants for North Korea to replace a Soviet-designed reactor that they fear North Korea was using to develop atomic weapons.