Aso criticizes Bush's policy on N. Korea nuke issue+

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 Kyodo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, in an interview with the Washington Post published Wednesday, expressed a critical view of the approach taken by the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush to multilateral efforts to disband North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

Aso was referring to the Bush administration's stance seen in its second
four-year term that sought a quick deal at one point without putting in writing
a specific plan to verify Pyongyang's nuclear activities.
''In the latter days of the Bush administration, I believe there was a tendency
to engage in discussions putting the issue of verifiable inspections in a bit
of vague wording,'' he said in the interview in Washington.
Aso visited Washington for talks Tuesday with current U.S. President Barack
Obama, becoming the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House since
Obama was inaugurated Jan. 20.
The Japanese prime minister welcomed the new U.S. administration's North Korea
policy, saying, ''The fact that Secretary (Hillary) Clinton was quite explicit
about the verification inspection aspect is quite welcome.''
The United States took North Korea off the list of its terror-sponsoring
countries in October in return for Pyongyang's agreeing to a robust nuclear
verification mechanism, including sample-taking.
But North Korea later refused to document specific methods, including
sample-taking, to check its nuclear information, resulting in a failure of the
latest round of six-party talks held in Beijing in December.
The six-way process involves North and South Korea, the United States, China,
Japan and Russia.