U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that Washington is not asking Tokyo to broaden the scope of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in order to accept the transfer of an Army command center.

Powell, who was in Japan through Sunday as part of a tour of three Far East countries, told reporters that the mission of the U.S. Army I (First) Corps has yet to be determined, and that such a role would be decided through future talks.

Powell was responding to concerns in Tokyo that the proposal to move the headquarters from Fort Lewis in Washington State to Camp Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture would conflict with the so-called Far East clause, or Article 6 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

It stipulates that U.S. forces are granted use of facilities in Japan for ``the purpose of contributing to the security of Japan and the maintenance of peace and security in the Far East.''

The proposal to relocate the command is part of Washington's global reorganization of forces to respond better to new threats.

Officials had feared that the transfer could serve as a staging ground for deployment of troops to areas in the ``arc of instability,'' a region stretching from Africa and the Balkan Peninsula through the Middle East to Southeast Asia, where U.S. forces presence is thin.

Powell said that the Army I Corps' future role should be decided through the Defense Policy Review Initiative and dialogue with Japan. He also said that the United States would explain the scale of troops that would be placed under the command of the I Corps.

However, Powell noted that Asian countries including Japan have benefited from the stability brought by the presence of U.S. forces, and emphasized that Washington does not intend to change its strategic framework of maintaining forward-deployment troops in the region.

On Sunday, Powell met with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to discuss issues ranging from U.S. forces reorganization to Iraq and North Korea and the outcome of the high-level talks aimed at ending a ban on U.S. beef imports because of mad cow disease.

Machimura and Powell agreed to conduct ``strategic dialogue'' at the ministerial level on U.S. forces reorganization.

Machimura said that talks on realigning forces in Japan, including reducing troop presence in Okinawa Prefecture, should be held ``not only at the working level, but also at the high level.''

``We agreed that the U.S. forces presence in Japan under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is an important form of deterrence which contributes to the stability and peace of the region,'' Machimura said.

The two also agreed to continue working closely to pressure Pyongyang to return to the six-nation framework of talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.

Powell denied that the recent signing of a North Korea human rights bill by U.S. President George Bush and joint anti-proliferation maritime exercises off Tokyo could reduce chances that Pyongyang would return to the negotiating table.

``Neither of these actions are hostile ... these are not meant to derail talks but to express concern,'' he said.(IHT/Asahi: October 25,2004) (10/25)