May 23 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's biggest opposition party called Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's one-day visit to North Korea a ``failure'' and an attempt to deflect attention from questions over his pension fund contributions.

Koizumi's visit yesterday was aimed at paving the way for talks to end North Korea's nuclear program. He returned with five of the eight known relatives of Japanese abducted by the communist nation in the 1980s, while his visit was overshadowed by a New York Times report that said evidence was found North Korea exported nuclear materials to Libya.

The visit ``was a failure'', Katsuya Okada, a senior member of the Democratic Party of Japan, said on TV Asahi this morning. Koizumi's 90-minute meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appeared to be ``just a ceremony,'' he said.

Koizumi is trying to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, where North Korean troops are facing South Korean and U.S. forces across the most heavily armed border in the world. He announced his visit to North Korea's capital Pyongyang Wednesday, the same day he disclosed that he had missed some contributions to a state pension fund in the 1980s. Two leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan resigned their posts for missing similar payments.

``It seems like Koizumi rushed to visit'' North Korea on concern his missed pension payments would affect his results in the upcoming upper house election in July, Okada said.

``Domestically, where the `personal' overshadows the `political,' his success in bringing the relatives home should help his approval ratings overall,'' said James Barber, a political analyst at Barclays Capital Research Japan Ltd. ``Whether this helps deflect criticism over pension reform and scandal, however, remains to be seen.''

Weapons

International inspectors have found evidence that North Korea sold Libya two tons of weapons-grade uranium in 2001, the New York Times said, citing unidentified U.S. and European officials. If verified, it would be the first evidence of North Korea exporting key components for making atomic bombs, the Times said.

Koizumi's visit, his second to Pyongyang in 20 months, may help nudge North Korea toward an agreement on its nuclear program when officials from the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S. meet next month for talks. Kim said he wants a ``de- nuclearized'' Korean peninsula, Koizumi said yesterday.

North Korea has said it wants written guarantees of its security from the U.S. and economic aid in return for ending its nuclear weapons program. The U.S. wants a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear program before it considers aid or normal ties.

South Korea in a statement welcomed the results of Koizumi's visit after he urged North Korea to give up efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and pledged 250,000 tons of food and $10 million in medical aid to the communist nation.

Reunited

Koizumi returned to Tokyo with five kin of Japanese forcibly abducted to train North Korean agents in the Japanese language and culture. Japan had sought all eight known relatives. Koizumi spent an hour after his meeting with Kim to try to persuade the other three -- Charles Robert Jenkins and his two daughters --to travel to Japan. Jenkins was a former U.S. soldier who deserted.

Koizumi's partial resolution of the abductees issue may limit any election gains he can expect, according to Toru Umemoto, a financial markets analyst in Tokyo at Keio University's Global Security Research Center. Koizumi's popularity rose after his first meeting with Kim in Pyongyang in 2002.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nate Hosoda in Tokyo at nhosoda@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 23, 2004 04:03 EDT