Kadhafi met earlier this week for two hours with Iwao Matsuda, Japan's minister of state for science and technology policy, who praised Libya's 2003 decision to abandon its weapons of mass destruction program.

"In response, leader Kadhafi said ... he has been calling on North Korea and other nations of concern to follow Libya's example," a Japanese foreign ministry statement said late Thursday.

"He said further cooperation from industrialized nations is necessary for such efforts to be effective," it said.

Japan and the United States have led a drive to punish Pyongyang after it test-fired seven missiles on July 5.

North Korea, which US President George W. Bush branded in 2002 as part of an "axis of evil," says it has nuclear weapons and has boycotted disarmament talks since November last year to protest US financial sanctions.

Libya, which has accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, has seen its pariah status disappear after Kadhafi's 2003 announcement that he was renouncing his weapons programs.

This week, Tripoli announced a new round of bidding for rights to hunt for oil as the world's energy giants flock back to the North African country.

Matsuda, the most senior Japanese official to visit Libya, said at Wednesday's meeting that Japan hoped to receive the country's oil.

Kadhafi responded that "Libya is a stable supplier of oil among oil-producing countries and expressed his hopes to receive Japan's help for peaceful nuclear purposes and utilization of solar energy," the statement said.

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