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Japan, North Korea begin talks on ties, abductions, nuke
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-05 08:51
Talks between Japan and North Korea aimed at improving relations will first
try to resolve a row over Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese citizens, top
diplomats from both sides said on Saturday.
The talks in Beijing are the first high-level bilateral meeting between Japan
and North Korea in over three years and will cover normalisation of relations
and security issues, as well as the North's secret abduction of Japanese in
years past.
North Korean negotiator Kim Zhe-hu (C) meets a
Japanese delegation in Beijing, China February 5, 2006.
[Reuters] | They come amid efforts to resume
stalled six-party negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear arms
programme.
"If the North Korean side shows no sincerity in solving the nuclear weapon,
abduction and missile issues, then the likelihood of normalisation of diplomatic
relations is very slim," Koichi Haraguchi, Japan's chief delegate for the talks
with North Korea, told reporters after arriving in Beijing.
Tokyo places priority on resolving the bitter dispute over Japanese nationals
abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies.
North Korea has admitted abducting 13 people, eight of whom it says are dead.
It says the abductee issue is settled, but Tokyo wants more information about
the eight and another three it says were also kidnapped.
Japanese negotiator Umeda Kunio (C) meets a
North Korean delegation in Beijing, China February 5, 2006.
[Reuters] | The Saturday talks aimed mainly to set the agenda. On Sunday the two sides
will focus on the abductions, with the other topics to feature in following
days.
North Korea's chief negotiator Song Il-ho said Pyongyang was keen to broach
the topic. "With respect to the abduction issue, we have a mountain of things to
say," he told reporters.
He added that both sides wanted "open-minded, constructive and sincere
talks."
ABDUCTION ISSUE VS REPARATIONS
Haraguchi told reporters that there could not be progress on other issues
unless Japan's demands about the abductions were addressed. But he also said
that in a first meeting the North Koreans indicated they "have their own views"
on the abductions.
In the talks, Japan will demand that North Korea hand over agents suspected
of playing a key role in kidnapping Japanese citizens and return surviving
abductees, Japanese officials said.
Some analysts said Pyongyang could eventually agree to hand over at least one
agent, but North Korean diplomats and press reports also signalled their country
might not move on the abductions unless its own demands are met.
North Korea wants reparations for Japan's often brutal 1910-45 colonisation
of the Korean peninsula. Tokyo has rejected that demand but has agreed to talk
about aid for the North's economy at a later stage.
"The settlement of the past is an issue that the whole world is paying
attention to," Song said, according to Kyodo. He added that he planned to raise
the issue in the Beijing talks.
Tokyo also insists that Pyongyang halt its nuclear programme before
normalisation can occur, meaning progress in the two-way talks is closely linked
to the multilateral discussions among the two Koreas, the United States, China
and Russia.
Japan, which was caught off guard when North Korea test-fired a long-range
missile over its territory in 1998, also wants to confirm that North Korea's
moratorium on ballistic missile tests is in place.
Few analysts expect a breakthrough in Beijing that could set the stage for
diplomatic ties to be forged any time soon.
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