A possible U.S. attack on Iraq and ties with North Korea are likely to grab much of the limelight when President Bush meets Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday, analysts and diplomats say. Concerns over soggy global growth and worries over Japan's own struggling economy and fragile banking system will also get a nod, but could take a back seat to the pressing security issues.

"Of course, they can't ignore the economy, but it won't be the main focus," said former Japanese diplomat Satoshi Morimoto.

The talks come as Bush seeks backing at home and abroad for a possible strike against Iraq, which he fears may use weapons of mass destruction or give them to militants elsewhere.

"It is very likely it (Iraq) will be a major topic of conversation," U.S.

Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker told a gathering of U.S. and Japanese business leaders.

Japan's public is overwhelmingly opposed to any attack and the government, which supported the U.S. war in Afghanistan, is in a quandary over how it would react.

Koizumi, who left on Monday for the United States, is also expected to consult Bush about the Japanese leader's historic visit to Pyongyang set for September 17, Japanese officials said.

With Koizumi focused on Pyongyang and Bush on Baghdad, economic matters could get short shrift, though Koizumi might brief Bush on the latest menu of steps Tokyo is pondering to reflate its economy and prop up its stock market.

"The talks will probably be heavily security-related," said a Western diplomat. "U.S. economic advisers may have to fight to get Bush to make their points."

IRAQ, IRAQ, IRAQ

Bush insists he will not allow Iraq, which he has dubbed part of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and Iran, to persist in what he says are efforts to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, though his aides say no decision has been made on any attack.

Japanese officials -- caught between the U.S. alliance and the constraints of a pacifist constitution -- have said legislation enacted last year to enable Tokyo to provide unprecedented military support for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan would not cover action against Iraq.

"Our country has no means to attack Iraq. Should it ever come to it, we would have limited scope for cooperation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference.

Fukuda added it was important to put pressure on Iraq to let in nuclear weapons inspectors and get it to change its behavior.

Analysts say it would be tough for Tokyo to provide practical backing to the United States without proof of Iraq's weapons program or links to extremist groups.

NORTH KOREA IN FRAME

Koizumi's own thoughts are likely to be turning to a meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, when he will become the first Japanese leader to visit the secretive communist state.

North Korea and Japan have no diplomatic ties and relations have long been haunted by bitter memories of Tokyo's harsh colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945.

Japan is worried about Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs and wants action on its allegations -- denied by Pyongyang -- that North Korea kidnapped 11 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

For its part, the United States is trying to arrange a visit to Pyongyang by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly.

Koizumi might urge Bush to resume stalled U.S. talks with Pyongyang given leader Kim's apparent pursuit of tentative economic reforms and North Korean diplomatic overtures to the West in hopes of aid for the country's battered economy.

"Japan has been telling the United States to restart dialogue with North Korea," a Japanese official said. "It is important for Japan to state its policy clearly to the United States."

PHOTO CAPTION

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi waves to dignitaries as he leaves Tokyo's Haneda Airport enroute to New York September 9, 2002. Koizumi will attend a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks and hold a meeting with U.S. President George Bush on Thursday. (Kimimasa Mayama/Reuters)