Komura urges Pakistan not to import N. Korean missiles

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 Kyodo

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura urged Pakistan on Wednesday not to import missiles from North Korea, warning that "voices prevail" in Japan to cut off aid to countries that do so.

Komura said he told Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz during a meeting in New York that any import of North Korean missiles would be "unacceptable from the standpoint of Japan's security."

"I also told him there is reliable information that a missile Pakistan tested in April had been imported from North Korea," Komura said.

But Aziz did not respond, Komura said. "I don't understand why he didn't."

Pakistan has already denied the alleged imports from Pyongyang.

A Japanese official quoted Komura as telling Aziz, "Voices prevail among Japanese lawmakers and people to cut off official development aid to countries that import missiles from North Korea."

Pakistan has been urging Japan to lift its sanctions imposed after Islamabad carried out a series of underground nuclear tests in May.

The sanctions include freezing of financial aid.

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