President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizmi today agreed on the need for a new round of talks aimed at ending the North Korea nuclear crisis, the White House said. In a telephone conversation, the two leaders also discussed "the successful election in Iraq and the way forward," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with Bush to Fargo, North Dakota for a speech on domestic issues. "They also talked about the importance of moving forward on the six-party talks with North Korea," McClellan said. "They talked about ways to build upon what is already a strong relationship between the United States and Japan." Asked whether there is reason to expect a swift resumption of the talks between North Korea and the United States, South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia, McClellan was cautious and placed the burden for taking action on Pyongyang. "North Korea has sent some indications that they want to come back to the talks. We'll have to see how serious they are by the actions they take," McClellan said. "But … all parties are urging North Korea to come back to the talks, so that we can talk about how we move forward in a substantive way on the proposal that we put forward at the last round of talks."
