Islamabad: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has cancelled her January visit to Pakistan following reports of Islamabad's co-operation with Pyongyang to help North Korea's nuclear programme, a media report said.

Instead, during her visit to the region in the new year, Yoriko would tour India and Sri Lanka and skip Pakistan, local daily 'The News' said.

However, Pakistan foreign office has denied the cancellation of the Japanese Foreign Minister's visit.

Japan had apparently cancelled the tour because of the co-operation Pakistan extended to North Korea in building its nuclear programme, the newspaper said.

During her visit to Pakistan, Yoriko was scheduled to hold talks on Pakistan-India relations as well as to sign an economic package with Islamabad, it said.

Yoriko's visit was cancelled as she was provided with some solid evidence by the United States officials during her recent visit to the US, it said.

No dates had been finalised for Yoriko's visit. Therefore, there was no question it being cancelled, Pak officials were quoted as saying by the daily.

Meanwhile, reports in Tokyo said Pakistan had secretly informed the US that a number of its scientists and military officers were "personally" involved in providing nuclear arms technology to North Korea.

The information was passed on about two years ago in response to a US request for probes into Pakistan's suspected transfer of nuclear arms technology to the Communist state, Japanese Jiji Press news agency said.

PTI