The US Navy will deploy about 10 ships in the drill, which will be conducted through Wednesday in waters surrounding Japan.

"The purpose of the exercise is to train leaders of each side on what to do in an emergency situation and how to operate their units," another spokesman for the Defense Agency said.

"The joint exercise has been held annually since 1981, and this one has nothing to do with the latest developments in North Korea," said the spokesman.

North Korea regularly lashes out at military exercises near its territory. It tested its first atom bomb a month ago, citing US hostility, although it has since agreed to return to talks.

Japan and the United States are boosting military cooperation amid jitters over North Korea, which fired a missile over Japan's main island in 1998, and as China steps up its military spending.

Japan calls its troops "Self-Defense Forces" as the pacifist constitution imposed after defeat in World War II renounces the means of war.

earlier related report
NKorean rep says US vote will build pressure for bilateral talks
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 9 - A North Korean representative in Japan said Thursday the Democrats' victory in US elections would build pressure for bilateral talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

US President George W. Bush's administration has refused formal one-on-one talks with North Korea, an option supported by some leading members of the Democratic Party, which swept congressional elections Tuesday.

So Chung-on, chief of international affairs for the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, said North Korean authorities "might have expected that (election) result because they have information about it from various sources, including the Internet".

"Many Democrats in the Congress pressured the Bush administration to talk directly with North Korea," he said. "This trend will be strengthened."

"Talks are the best way to solve anything concerning the Korean Peninsula, so I like (this development) very much," So told a news conference, in the first remarks by a North Korean representative on the election.

He reiterated North Korea's stance that it was driven to conduct a nuclear test by US financial sanctions against a Macau bank accused of laundering and counterfeiting money for the regime.

"The ultimate goal of the DPRK is not eternal possession of nuclear weapons, but denuclearization aimed at settling hostile relations" between Pyongyang and Washington, he said.

"I'm sure the DPRK will give up possessing even a single nuke when it is no longer exposed to a US threat, after the US drops its hostile policy toward the DPRK," he said, using the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The North Korean association, better known as Chongryon, is considered Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Japan in the absence of diplomatic relations, although So described it as a non-governmental organization.

Some 600,000 Koreans live in Japan, forming the largest minority group, mostly descended from people who immigrated or were enslaved during Tokyo's 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Most are affiliated with South Korea.

So spoke one month after North Korea's October 9 test of its first atomic bomb, sending tensions soaring in Northeast Asia.

North Korea, however, agreed last week to end a year-long boycott of six-nation talks on ending its nuclear program.

Bush administration officials have repeatedly met bilaterally with North Korea on the sidelines of six-way talks, but have insisted any solution must come through multilateral dialogue.

So, who was born in Tokyo in 1957, said Japan's own tough stance on North Korea has "changed the atmosphere" for the community and led to harassment.

"Most Koreans can't help but hide their identity," he said.

earlier related report
US envoy sees agreement with Russia, China on North Korea
Beijing (AFP) Nov 9 - A top US envoy said Thursday that Washington was in lockstep with its partners, including China and Russia, on how to defuse the North Korean nuclear crisis.

US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns was speaking after meeting in Beijing with Russian and Chinese delegates to six-nation talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program.

South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States have been negotiating with North Korea in the on-off six-party format for more than three years. The talks took on a new impetus after Pyongyang's October 9 nuclear test.

"I think the five parties are very strongly together on what needs to be done, and that is the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula (and) the fulfillment of the September 2005 agreement that North Korea has signed up to," Burns told reporters.

"There is strength in the international community that the message to North Korea should be: 'You need to stop your illegal activities'."

According to that 2005 agreement, North Korea committed to giving up its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees, the normalization of relations, energy and other aid.

Following secretive talks in Beijing last week, North Korea agreed with the United States to return to the six-party format only if US financial sanctions imposed late last year on Pyongyang for money laundering and other illicit activities were also discussed.

The six-party talks have been stalled since November 2005 due to a North Korean boycott over the financial sanctions.

Burns on Thursday said the financial sanctions were under discussion by all parties, but refused to offer details, nor would he say whether those sanctions were forming an obstacle to the fuller implementation of the September 2005 agreement.

Burns, accompanied by Undersecretary of State for International Security Affairs Robert Joseph, met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev on Thursday, and later held talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.

He had consulted with officials in Tokyo and Seoul on the North Korea issue earlier this week.

The next round of six-party talks would be on the agenda when US President George W. Bush meets his counterparts from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea at the annual summit of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vietnam.

Burns said he hoped the talks would resume by year-end but said no consensus on timing had been reached yet.

"The common wish is this be well-prepared and that adequate time be given by all parties to ensure the success of that round," he told reporters at Beijing's airport before leaving.

Meetings between President Bush and his Chinese and Russian counterparts at the APEC summit in Hanoi next week could move the parties closer to a date, he said.

"The most important issue is that there is real unity among the parties. And from the conversations we've had this week we are going to move ahead with strength and conviction and the goal is the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he added.

Joseph said after the talks with Russia that all sides were "entirely agreed on full and effective implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 1718" which condemned the nuclear test and imposed another set of sanctions on the regime.

He further called for "concrete results" in the next round of six-party talks.

Meanwhile, Alexeyev emerged from the meeting saying both sides "satisfied each other" on the issue of resolution 1718.

"We did not discuss (the timing of the six-party talks)," Alexeyev told reporters. "But we both understand that the next round will take place."

Burns had met on Wednesday with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other senior Chinese diplomats.

earlier related report
North Korea accuses South Korea of joining sanctions against it
Seoul (AFP) Nov 9 - North Korea Thursday blasted South Korea for taking part "in real earnest" in sanctions against it, by blocking visits to Pyongyang. Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party newspaper, accused Seoul of blocking civilian groups from visiting the communist country in what it called an act of "deep-seated flunkeyism" towards the United States.

"The reality goes to clearly prove that they are taking part in real earnest in the sanctions against the DPRK (North Korea) under foreign forces' coercion and pressure," it said.

"It is an unpardonable crime against the nation to join the US imperialists in the above-said sanctions."

South Korea's involvement in the measures would only touch off "strong protest and condemnation among the fellow countrymen," it said.

It was not clear which specific groups were being referred to but all South Koreans need their government's permission to visit the North.

The United Nations imposed sanctions on the North following its nuclear test on October 9.

US and South Korean officials held talks this week on the sanctions and on a joint strategy in upcoming six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

Song Min-Soon, chief presidential security aide, said Wednesday that Seoul would next week state what measures it would take to observe the UN sanctions.

"Measures to be taken by the government in light of the North Korean nuclear situation need to be reported to the United Nations. Thus, we expect to make an announcement next week," Song told reporters.

He is to become the next foreign minister, replacing incoming UN chief Ban Ki-Moon.

South Korea has pledged to obey the measures but is reluctant to inspect cargos to and from North Korea, as provided for under the sanctions.

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com