Bush Invites Japanese PM to Camp David

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves before boarding a government plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport Thursday April 26, 2007. Abe headed for Washington on a government aircraft Thursday for his first summit trip to Japan's top ally. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) (Koji Sasahara - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit with President Bush comes at a critical time in the effort to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Their planned meeting Friday at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat also takes place as some of Abe's fellow conservatives in Japan question what is seen as a softening of Bush's tactics against the North.

The main topic at their talks at the isolated retreat in the Catoctin Mountains will be ways to press North Korea to act on its February pledge to begin abandoning its nuclear weapons. The North since has refused to move forward on a promise to shut down its nuclear reactor.

Abe's first trip to the United States as prime minister began Thursday, highlighted by dinner at the White House.

Bush and his wife, Laura, walked across Pennsylvania Avenue to call on Abe and his wife, Akie, at Blair House, the guest residence for visiting foreign leaders. They strolled, four abreast, up the White House driveway for an informal dinner in the Bushes' private residence. "Nice day for a walk," the president said, although a cloudy sky threatened rain.

Both the U.S. and Japanese governments publicly agree on the direction of disarmament talks. But some Japanese observers have criticized recent U.S. decisions to engage Pyongyang in bilateral discussions and to allow the return of $25 million in disputed North Korean money in an attempt to move the disarmament process forward.

Abe also planned to raise with Bush the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Pyongyang sent home five of the 13 people it admitted having abducted, but it insisted the rest were dead. Japan has demanded proof and says more of its citizens may have been taken.

Until the issue is resolved, Tokyo has taken a hard line and has refused to provide energy and economic aid to North Korea or to normalize relations.

On Thursday, Abe spoke with U.S. lawmakers about an issue that has sparked anger among U.S. conservatives and liberals alike: a comment the prime minister made in March that seemed to minimize Japan's role in forcing thousands of Asian women into sexual slavery during World War II.

Congress is considering a nonbinding resolution that urges Japan to apologize formally for the wartime "comfort women" policy.

After a meeting between Abe and congressional leaders, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said Abe "expressed regret that his comments were not as he intended for them to be and expressed great sympathy with people who had been placed in that kind of situation."

People across Asia and the United States were infuriated at Abe's suggestion that no proof exists that the military had coerced women into brothels. It seemed to some that Abe was backtracking on a 1993 government apology.

U.S. officials now say that Abe's recent public statements in support of the 1993 apology have been convincing.

The two leaders will seek to play down any divisions on Friday. Instead, they want to convey the health of a crucial alliance that has gained importance as rival China accumulates economic and military power.

One of the divisions was being recalled symbolically at lunch Friday, when the courses included cheeseburgers. Japan, which used to be the top customer for U.S. beef, still has in force an embargo on the meat because of a perceived danger of mad cow disease. It did not come up at Thursday's private White House dinner.

The main course was roast duck.