New Delhi: Affirming to step up bilateral strategic interaction, India and Japan on May 4 held extensive talks on threats posed by nuclear weapons in North Korea and its clandestine weapons nexus with Pakistan.

Japan also agreed to step up Official Development Assistance (ODA) to India to bring it at par with the pre-Pokhran II (1998) sanctions level of $ two billion within two years.

This emerged after a one-to-one meeting between visiting Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his Indian counterpart George Fernandes which was followed by delegation level talks.

According to Japanese sources, Ishiba briefed Fernandes on the nuclear threat posed by North Korea while Fernandes apprised him of the increasing evidence of Pakistan-North Korean nuclear and missile nexus and continued cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and the threat it posed in the region.

PTI