America and Japan to 'get tough' on North Korea

President George Bush and the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said yesterday that "tougher measures" would be taken against North Korea if nuclear tensions escalated.

The US President said he and Mr Koizumi viewed the nuclear crisis in "exactly the same way" - an absolute unwillingness to see Pyongyang become a nuclear-armed power.

"We will not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea," Mr Bush said in a joint appearance with Mr Koizumi after a summit at the President's ranch in Texas.

Mr Bush said: "We will not settle for anything less than the complete, verifiable and irreversible elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme ... Further escalation of the situation by North Korea will require tougher measures from the international community."