Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated his call for a world free of nuclear weapons and a denuclearized Korean Peninsula on Saturday after North Korea announced it is leaving an international treaty designed to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"It is very regrettable, and I have serious concerns about North Korea, which declared (its intent) yesterday to withdraw from the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," Koizumi said in a speech delivered at the Kurchatov Institute.
The prime minister made the comments at an international conference at Russia's top atomic-energy research institute. He also said Japan and Russia will restart a joint project to decommission retired Russian nuclear-powered submarines in the Far East as part of an attempt to settle what he called "negative legacies of the 20th century."
Koizumi also discussed the importance of dealing with problems related to energy development and the environment in the 21st century.