Hatoyama speaks with S. Korea`s Lee as DPJ leader commences diplomacy

TOKYO, Aug. 31 Kyodo -
Just a day after Sunday's resounding election victory, Democratic Party of
Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama engaged in a flurry of diplomacy, including talks
with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on North Korean issues.
Hatoyama, the opposition leader poised to become Japan's next prime minister,
told reporters that he had spoken by phone with Lee and that the two agreed on
the need to work closely, along with the United States, toward resolving North
Korean issues including past abductions by the North.
''I told him that we will take power and in that case, Japan-South Korea
relations will go smoothly,'' Hatoyama said.
In Seoul, South Korea's presidential office confirmed the telephone
conversation between Lee and the presumptive Japanese prime minister.
Hatoyama said he received calls Monday not only from Lee but also Australian
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and new U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, who all
congratulated him on the DPJ's crushing victory in Sunday's House of
Representatives election.
Rudd told Hatoyama that he is pinning hopes on the new government to be led by
the DPJ, according to Hatoyama.
In his conversation with Roos, Hatoyama said he hopes to help develop
Japan-U.S. relations further as friends and that he would like to convey that
message to U.S. President Barack Obama.
Roos assured Hatoyama that he will pass on the message to Obama, according to
Hatoyama, who noted he and Roos are both alumni of Stanford University.
==Kyodo