Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is likely to visit Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama between April 29 and May 2, local media reported Thursday, according to dpa. Noda and Obama were expected to issue a joint statement saying Japan and the United States would strengthen bilateral ties in a comprehensive range of fields including security and the economy, considering the situation in North Korea and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing unnamed sources. If Pyongyang goes ahead with its planned rocket launch, how to respond to the Stalinist state could become a major agenda item, Kyodo said. The joint statement was expected to stipulate a basic policy on the reconfiguration of the US military stationed in Japan based on an interim report to be compiled this month by the two governments, the report said. Noda, the sixth premier in six years, would be the first Japanese premier under the government led by his Democratic Party of Japan to meet Obama in Washington since the party took power in September 2009. The Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide victory in the 2009 general election, ending more than a half-century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
