RICE

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters):

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured Japan yesterday that Washington would stand by a commitment to protect its Asian ally and tried to temper concerns of an Asian nuclear arms race after North Korea's nuclear test.

"The U.S. has the will and the capability to meet the full range, and I underscore full range, of its deterrent and security commitments to Japan," Rice told a news conference in Tokyo, the first stop on a tour of North Asia.

The United States is worried that Japan and South Korea might embark on an arms build-up in response to North Korea deve-loping a nuclear arsenal.

"That is why it is extremely important to go out and reaffirm, and reaffirm strongly, U.S. defence commitments to Japan and to South Korea," Rice told reporters travelling with her. Referring to an arms race, she said: "We have a lot of means to prevent that from happening."

Germany also warned that North Korea's underground test of a nuclear device on October 9 and Iran's refusal to rein in its nuclear programme could spark regional arms races.

"Both of these provocations can awaken the desire for nuclear weapons among their neighbours. We must prevent this, which is why we're not at the end of this conflict but at the beginning," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the German weekly magazine Stern.

UNIFIED STANCE

Germany, France and Britain are drafting a U.N. Security Council resolu-tion this week that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment programme. Tehran says the programme is for producing electricity.

Rice will head from Japan to Seoul and Beijing, seeking a unified stance on U.N. sanctions slapped on Pyongyang last Saturday for exploding a nuclear device.