Iraq clouds Blair's Asia talks

Blair learnt of Kelly's death on the flight to Tokyo

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to meet his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, on the first leg of a tour of the Far East.

The two leaders - meeting in a spa town near Mount Fuji - are expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear programme, and possible Japanese involvement in efforts to rebuild Iraq.

However Mr Blair's tour is being overshadowed by questions about the decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein, and the apparent death of a UK weapons expert, David Kelly.

On arrival in Tokyo, Mr Blair said his death was an "absolutely terrible tragedy", and called for restraint from politicians and the media ahead of an official inquiry.

Click here for map of Tony Blair's Asia tour

Dr Kelly had been named by the UK Government as the possible source for a controversial BBC story on Iraq, and had gone missing from his home in Oxfordshire on Thursday.

The government says an independent judicial inquiry will be held into the circumstances surrounding his death if the body is formally identified as that of Dr Kelly.

Dr Kelly had testified before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he was not the source of a BBC report that alleged the Mr Blair's staff had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction released last September.

Euro hint

A group of Tokyo protesters opposed the war in Iraq

On Saturday morning, Mr Blair told a meeting of 300 Japanese business leaders that it was in Britain's long-term interests to join the European single currency, the euro.

He said his government would work to ensure that the right moment for entry arrived.

"The economics must be right. But if they are we will recommend membership and in the meantime we will work to ensure the economics are right," he said.

About half of Japan's investment in the European Union goes to Britain; many Japanese industrialists would prefer the country to join the euro to eliminate the risks of exchange rate fluctuations.

Washington welcome

Mr Blair's arrival in the Far East follows talks in Washington with United States President George W Bush.

The prime minister also addressed Congress, where he received a rapturous welcome.

He told US lawmakers that even if Britain and the US had been mistaken about weapons of mass destruction, history would forgive the removal of Saddam Hussein.

"If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that at its least is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering," he said.

'Threat'

The Asian tour is likely to be dominated by North Korea.

On Friday, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Friday called Pyongyang "the most serious threat" to nuclear proliferation.

Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, expressed concern over the latest reports that North Korea is reprocessing fuel rods.

Mr ElBaradei's remarks follow North Korea's claim last week that it has produced enough plutonium to start making nuclear bombs.

After Japan, Mr Blair will travel to South Korea on Sunday, before heading to China and Hong Kong.

Click here to return