Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has shown a willingness to make a third trip to North Korea, this time as a special envoy, to try to break the deadlock in Japan's relations with the country, a source said Thursday.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'I might think of visiting North Korea for the third time as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's special envoy,' Koizumi was quoted by the source as telling Taku Yamasaki, a former vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Wednesday night.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Referring to the Pyongyang Declaration he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il when he visited the North for the first time in September 2002, Koizumi was quoted as saying, 'I want to revive the declaration.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Koizumi expressed resolve to get involved in efforts to induce North Korea into giving up its nuclear arms program. The source quoted him as saying, 'As a politician, I want to realize' the denuclearization of North Korea.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki refrained from commenting on Koizumi's remarks, saying he has not directly spoken with him on the subject.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Countries involved in the six-nation talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea have been unable to set a date for the next round of the talks despite Pyongyang's offer last month to resume them after a one-year hiatus, mainly because the North is now showing reluctance at re-entering the negotiations.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Pyongyang Declaration aims to resume talks between Japan and North Korea on normalizing ties and abide by all international agreements related to the North's nuclear threat.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Shortly after Koizumi's historic September 2002 visit, the North allowed five Japanese who had been abducted by its agents decades ago to return to Japan.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Koizumi returned to Pyongyang in May 2004 to bring to Japan the offspring of the five repatriates and the American deserter husband of one of them.</PARAGRAPH> <SUBHEAD> Aso in Singapore</SUBHEAD> <PARAGRAPH> SINGAPORE –

Foreign Minister Taro Aso arrived Thursday in Singapore for talks with his counterpart here before flying to the Philippines to attend regional meetings where the North Korean nuclear threat is expected to top the agenda.

During a 20-minute meeting with George Yeo, Aso underscored the importance of effectively implementing a U.N. sanctions resolution against Pyongyang amid a possible resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea and noted China's active role in such efforts, a Japanese official said.

North Korea sparked a global outcry when it conducted its first underground nuclear test on Oct. 9.

Yeo said in response that his country also places great importance on the North Korean nuclear threat and clearly understands Japan's position on Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese nationals, the official said.