MAY REASSURES ON BREXIT, BACKS JAPAN ON N KOREA

TOKYO: British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to reassure Japanese business leaders about Brexit on Thursday, also joining Japan in calling on China to use its influence to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons and missile development.

May, whose visit comes after North Korea launched a missile over Japan, said the global condemnation of the launch needs to be matched with action.

“China does have a particular position in this, they have leverage on North Korea and I believe that we should be encouraging China to exercise that leverage,” she said at a joint news conference after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The British leader said she and Abe had agreed to work with others to step up pressure on North Korea, including a speeding-up of the implementation of sanctions.

On Brexit, May said she is seeking to lay the foundation to take the trade and investment relationship with Japan to “a whole new level” as the U.K. leaves the European Union.

“This is a formative period in shaping the future of my country,” she said in remarks earlier to a Japan-U.K. business forum.

She pledged that Britain would deepen trade relations and become even more outward-looking post-Brexit.

I am not a quitter. I am in this for the long term .... There’s a real job to be done in the UK. It is about getting the Brexit deal right... it is also about building global Britain THERESA MAY, British PM