Five men and five women were taken to a nearby hospital, said Tokyo Fire Department spokesman Keita Kaneko. All were conscious, he added. Three men who were part of a suspected pickpocketing group released the spray as the police officers who were chasing them closed in, Kyodo News agency said.

Police arrested one man suspected of releasing the spray, Kyodo and public broadcaster NHK said.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police refused to immediately comment on the reports.

A spokeswoman for Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc said its political council had agreed to team up with ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko's party and the Socialists.

Mr Yushchenko sacked Ms Tymoshenko as prime minister last September.

Ms Tymoshenko's key demand was to return as prime minister. It is not yet clear if she will get the job again.

Mr Yushchenko's party came third in the general election held on 26 March, while Ms Tymoshenko's bloc came second.

The two pro-Western liberal leaders had stood together before huge crowds of supporters in Kiev during the 2004 "Orange Revolution" - the huge street protests which swept them into power.

But their alliance collapsed last year amid bitter rivalry between Ms Tymoshenko and some of Mr Yushchenko's top aides.

Talks will now be held to agree on an action plan for the new coalition.

Arch-rival

The pro-Russian opposition party led by Viktor Yanukovych came first in last month's parliamentary election, but did not get enough votes for an outright victory.

Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party ruled out including Mr Yanukovych's Party of the Regions in the new coalition.

Mr Yanukovych was declared the winner of the presidential election in November 2004, but allegations of widespread vote-rigging sent hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians out onto the streets to demand change.

In the Orange Revolution - named after Mr Yushchenko's campaign colour - the election result was overturned and Mr Yushchenko went on to win a re-run.

The two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have held talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program since 2003. In September 2005 the North agreed to abandon nuclear programs in return for receiving a US-led security guarantee and economic and diplomatic benefits.

But the talks are in limbo following the last meeting in November, after Washington accused Pyongyang of counterfeiting US dollars and laundering money.

The North denies the charge and demands the US lift financial sanctions before it returns to the talks.

Japanese officials said Tuesday a North Korean envoy would attend a private security conference in Tokyo from April 9 to 13 amid hopes that it could help jumpstart the six-way talks.

Academics and officials, including the top nuclear negotiators of the United States, South Korea and Japan, are to take part in the event.

North Korea has recently threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent, citing US-South Korean joint military drills and media reports -- long denied by Seoul -- that South Korea plans to build a nuclear-powered submarine.

On Wednesday it maintained its tough stance.

"The US is cooperating with the South Korean authorities in nuclear armament against the DPRK (North Korea)," Rodong Sinmun, the ruling communist party newspaper, said in a commentary.

"This compels the DPRK to harden its resolution to further strengthen its self-defensive nuclear activities."

Port of Seattle security guards spotted the group about 1 a.m.

Milne said there was no evidence of "any real criminal or terrorist activity ... just an alien smuggling operation."

He said the stowaways were believed to be part of an organized smuggling ring, but he had no information about how much they paid for the voyage or who ran the operation.

Milne said it could take investigators several days to determine whether they people be deported, be held as material witnesses or face other proceedings, such as asylum hearings.

The shipping container, the second from the bottom in a stack of four, had been flagged for a special examination, but that had not been conducted before the group was caught, Milne said.

It had been loaded on the ship in Shanghai and had water bottles, food, blankets and toilet facilities.

"The conditions are certainly not deluxe, but everyone came off in apparently good health," Milne said.

The group apparently pried the container open early Wednesday and lowered themselves about seven feet to the ground, he said. About half were found within the terminal and the other half were spotted trying to get out through a gate, Milne said.

Once they were intercepted, "there was no attempt to flee or hide," he said. "They were cooperative."

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., said the incident demonstrated the need for greater port security.

"This appears to have been a case of human smuggling, but that cargo container could have been filled with anything from a dirty bomb to a cell of terrorists," Murray said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor.

It was believed to be the first detection of a human smuggling attempt via cargo container in Seattle since a flurry along the U.S. and Canadian West Coast in 2000 and 2001. Almost all of those caught were deported. Three found in a shipping container had died before reaching Seattle in January 2000.

Milne said he didn't yet know who owned the ship, which was registered in Liberia.