UPDATE 2-Obama, Japan PM to discuss economy, North Korea

(Adds North Korea plans for satellite launch, other details)

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 - The global economic crisis and concerns about North Korea will dominate talks on Tuesday between President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso aimed at reassuring Tokyo it remains a top U.S. ally.

Aso is the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Obama took office a month ago, in a signal of the new U.S. president's interest in cultivating warm ties.

But it is unclear whether Aso, who will sit down with Obama at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT), will be paying many future visits to the Oval Office.

After a series of flip-flops and gaffes by his government, some in Aso's own Liberal Democratic Party have called for him to be replaced and a poll released this week showed almost four out of five Japanese voters want him to quit within months.

"This meeting is not about the individuals so much as it is about the relationship between the countries," said Ralph Cossa, head of the Pacific Forum think tank at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Cossa said that despite the staunch friendship with the United States, there has been some anxiety in Japan over moves begun in the final years of the Bush administration to engage North Korea as part of an effort to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

Obama's campaign promise of broad engagement with foes like North Korea unsettled Tokyo. Separate concerns center on fears that the Obama administration may be inclined to pursue more protectionist trade policies.

But the Obama administration has sought to ease any concerns about Japan's place in U.S. foreign policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made Tokyo the first stop on her Asian tour last week and said the bilateral relationship was the "cornerstone of our efforts around the world."

During the trip, she bluntly talked of a possible power struggle in Pyongyang and said that made it all the more urgent to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

On Tuesday, North Korea said it was preparing to launch a satellite on one of its rockets, which analysts have said would actually be the test-firing of a long-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory. The news weighed on South Korean financial markets.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

Further deterioration in the world's two largest economies will also be a huge topic for the talks.

U.S. stock prices on Monday tumbled to their lowest levels in 12 years.

Later on Tuesday, Obama is to give a major nationally televised address to Congress in which he will discuss the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus plan and other efforts to rescue the U.S. economy from its freefall.

Japanese media have speculated that the need to find buyers for a raft of new U.S. Treasury bonds to fund the stimulus package is at least one of the reasons behind Obama's charm offensive. Japan is the second-largest holder of U.S. government bonds after China.

But a Japanese official said he did not expect the issue to be on the agenda and that Tokyo sees "no particular problem" in the bond market at this time.

Japan is suffering economic woes of its own. Plummeting exports have brought about the worst contraction since the 1970s in the final quarter of 2008.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said Aso will explain to Obama Tokyo's 75 trillion yen ($840 billion) plan to boost the Japanese economy through fiscal stimulus and financial steps.

Aso will tell Obama that the United States must rein in its overconsumption while Japan, China and other countries with trade surpluses should increase domestic demand, Kodama said.

Aso hopes to hear from Obama a strong commitment to resisting protectionism, he said.

Obama last week ordered a boost of 17,000 troops in Afghanistan aimed at stabilizing the deteriorating situation there. Analysts say there is little chance Obama will lean on Aso to provide military help in Afghanistan.

Critics called the dispatch of non-combat troops to Iraq a breach of Japan's pacifist constitution.