US President George W. Bush will welcome Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday and Friday for talks on North Korea, Iraq, and Tokyo's increasingly assertive global role, officials and experts say.

US officials hope that the leaders will build on a strategic relationship that blossomed and grew under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, who was one of Bush's closest international allies and staunchest backers of war in Iraq.

The US-Japan alliance "continues to mature under Abe and remains a critical factor in the global equation," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Pointing to Japan's involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, diplomacy towards North Korea, and role as the second-largest UN contributor, Johndroe added: "We encourage Japan's engagement on these and other fronts."

But experts say the prime minister, who will meet with Bush at the White House and the Camp David presidential retreat, also seeks reassurance on efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Abe, who will be making his first US visit as prime minister, said recently that he would press Bush on the emotional and volatile issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.

Japan has refused to fund an international deal to supply North Korea with energy in exchange for its nuclear disarmament unless there is progress on the abduction issue.

Since 2003, Washington has tied the abductee issue to its decision to list Pyongyang among the state sponsors of terrorism and Bush has stood strongly with Japan in that dispute.

But "in negotiations with North Korea recently, the US has said it wants to lift the sanctions on North Korea for terrorism, and Abe wants to make sure that there won't be a de-linking," said Mike Green, a former top Bush adviser on Asia now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

"Tokyo is worried that we're perhaps too eager for a resolution," and they "have not heard the same kind of unequivocal support we gave them in the past," so Abe wants to be sure "that we're still with them," said Green.

Bush and Abe -- who met in February in Tokyo with Vice President Dick Cheney -- will use their talks as "an opportunity to showcase our strong alliance with Japan, based on common values and close cooperation on many global and regional issues," said Johndroe.

"The United States and Japan, as the world's two largest high technology economies and established democracies, are also uniquely positioned to help promote effective development, expand political liberty, and address environmental issues," he said.

US officials privately welcome Abe's decision to make China his first destination upon taking office, noting difficult relations between Beijing and Tokyo amid disputes over World War II-era grievances.

Abe, whose grandfather was a World War II cabinet minister, has vowed to shake off legacies of World War II defeat, including the US-imposed pacifist constitution.

And he recently decided to extend by two years an air mission flying goods and personnel into Iraq, although Japan ended the ground troop deployment last year.

Expanding Japan's international role "may be something that Abe wants to explain to President Bush, because it's one of Abe's top priorities," said Green, who emphasized strong Bush administration support for those efforts.

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