Political leaders continued debating Sunday the outcome of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, with an opposition leader denouncing it as a "big failure."

Katsuya Okada, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, reiterated his criticism of Koizumi over the one-day trip to the reclusive state.

Speaking on a TV talk show, Okada said, "It was a big failure because political issues such as of the House of Councilors election and pensions were dragged into an important matter of diplomatic affairs on which national interest hangs."