China: N. Korea Didn't Apologize For Test

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not apologize for his regime's nuclear test when a special envoy from China visited Pyongyang and the North said it has the right to take action if it is pressured, China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

South Korean news reports said Kim had expressed regret for the Oct. 9 test during a visit last week by State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who delivered a personal message and a gift from Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"These reports are certainly not accurate," ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular press briefing. "We haven't heard any information that Kim Jong Il apologized for the test."

Liu also said the North Koreans told Tang's delegation that "it did not have a plan to carry out a second test."

"But if it faces pressure, North Korea reserves the right to take further actions," Liu said, citing Tang. He did not say whether Kim or other North Korean officials made the comment and did not give any other details.

The atmosphere of tension among North Korea's neighbors has not eased since the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution sanctioning the reclusive country.

Japan's relatively new prime minister has said repeatedly that his government is not considering a change to the pacifist national constitution, which bans the development of nuclear weaponry.

But Foreign Minister Taro Aso told members of Japan's parliament on Tuesday that it is "only natural to discuss how we should cope with the
changing environment around us."

Aso told a parliamentary committee that the Japanese government would stick to its three non-nuclear principles of not possessing, developing or allowing nuclear bombs on Japanese soil.

"As the government, there is no change to those principles," he said, stressing his adherence to the policy a week after stirring controversy by saying Japan should consider the nuclear option to counter the threat posed by Pyongyang's Oct. 9 atomic test.

However, Aso added that he is "not in favor of suppressing a debate over whether we should or should not possess nuclear (weapons)."

Japan had a pacifist constitution imposed upon it at the end of World War II which, along with the three nuclear principles, bans a military for anything but defensive purposes.

But with North Korea so keen to prove itself a nuclear armed neighbor, and Japan's close alliance — and shared tough stance against Pyongyang — with the United States, the full depth of what a 'defensive' force, and armament, entails is the subject of increasing debate in Tokyo.
It's a sensitive political issue in Japan, which suffered a nuclear attack when U.S. atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Other Cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Defense Agency chief Fumio Kyuma, were more cautious.

Kyuma, attending Tuesday's parliamentary committee with Aso, said the
timing is not right for a debate.

"A debate when the issue is boiling could cause misunderstanding. It should be discussed calmly," he said.

Abe last Wednesday said Tokyo had no plans to stray from its postwar non-nuclear policy, trying to stem the debate hours after Aso said lack of nuclear policy debate is odd, though Tokyo should observe its non-nuclear principles.

A second test by North Korea has been widely considered a possibility. Earlier this month, U.S. media reported that Pyongyang may be preparing for another, citing suspicious activity at a suspected test site in the North's northeast.

But on Tuesday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the U.S. military had not detected signs of preparations for a second atomic test.

U.S. military officials gave that intelligence assessment to their South Korean counterparts during annual defense talks in Washington last week, Yonhap said, citing unidentified defense officials.

Officials at the Defense Ministry were not immediately available for comment.

The developments demonstrate the uncertainty that has surrounded the nuclear standoff since the North's test, which prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions against Pyongyang.

Also Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon, the next United Nations secretary-general and South Korea's foreign minister said Seoul fully backs the sanctions.

Ban said he plans to use his new position as U.N. chief, which he'll assume at the beginning of next year, to "seek an active role for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue."

So far, South Korea hasn't outlined any specific action it plans to take in accord with the resolution, which calls for countries to take steps to prevent Pyongyang from continuing its weapons trade. The U.S. has urged the South to join an anti-proliferation initiative, and to take steps for more accountability in joint economic projects with the North.

Ban said Seoul was still "reviewing our policies to bring them closer in line" with the U.N. resolution.

As part of the rush of diplomatic exchanges since the nuclear test, Ban was scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Friday for meetings with Hu, Tang and his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing.

"The Korean nuclear issue will be an important issue for him to discuss with China," said Liu, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.

While the North has continued its bellicose rhetoric aimed at the United States, a South Korean lawmaker said the isolated regime is amenable to returning to international nuclear talks if Washington shows a willingness to resolve a dispute over the North's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

The U.S. has sought to cut off the North's access to international banking as punishment for alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and other illicit activity. Pyongyang has denied the charges and boycotted six-nation talks on its nuclear program until the U.S. ends the crackdown.

Rep. Choi Sung of South Korea's ruling Uri Party said he met with a "key North Korean official" in Beijing on Sunday. He said the official is well-versed in China-North Korea relations and inter-Korean ties, but declined to identify him further.

After the meeting, Choi suggested the United States present the communist state with evidence of its alleged illicit financial activities so the North can punish those responsible.

He said the North Korean official said his country could then return to the talks "even if the issue is not completely resolved."

However, Japanese lawmaker Ichiro Aisawa, who visited Beijing on Monday to discuss the nuclear test with Chinese leaders, said he was told by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei that China was "not optimistic about the resumption of the six-party talks or that North Korea will abandon its nuclear program," according to Kyodo news agency and public broadcaster NHK.

Wu, who is Beijing's top nuclear envoy, accompanied Chinese officials on a special mission to Pyongyang last week to discuss the nuclear dispute.