[USFK Forums] Japan set to end impasse in talks with N. Korea [Yomiuri]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Friday, December 23, 2005

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Posted on Thu, Dec. 22, 2005

Japan set to end impasse in talks with North Korea

The Yomiuri Shimbun

TOKYO - Success in this weekend's talks with North Korea in Beijing will depend on whether Pyongyang will agree to set up standing panels on three matters that require urgent attention - abductions of Japanese, security matters and preparation for talks on normalizing diplomatic ties, Japanese officials said Wednesday.

North Korea "has been positive so far" about starting the new forums with Japan, a topic first raised during the last round of talks early last month, a senior Foreign Ministry official said.Akitaka Saiki, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, will head the Japanese delegation that will meet a team led by Song Il Ho, vice director of North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department.

The Foreign Ministry's press secretary, Yoshinori Katori, said at a press conference that Japan was ready to start talks on normalizing ties at the level of ambassadors once Pyongyang agrees to the three standing panels. Talks on normalizing ties have not been held since October 2002.

Of the three issues handled by the proposed panels, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Japan regards the abductions of Japanese by North Korean agents as the most important issue. "On the abduction issue, which is most important, we'll be pressing (North Korea) hard to demand the return of surviving abductees as well as fact-finding and handing (abduction) suspects over to us," Abe said.

He added that Japan's position of not normalizing ties with North Korea before the abduction issue is resolved was unchanged.Japanese officials said they proposed the package of three panels as North Korea appears eager to reopen normalization talks, which could bring economic aid from Japan.

With the prospect of using normalization talks as a carrot, Japan sought to move ahead with talks over abduction and security issues, such as North Korea's missile development program, two issues that have stagnated for the past few years, according to officials.

But it is unclear whether North Korea will be as forthcoming on the abduction issue as Japan hopes if a panel is established. North Korea has retained its official position that the abduction issue has been settled.

Saiki and Song held informal talks earlier this month in Shenyang, China, and went over details on the forums.

"They (North Korea) wouldn't have met us if they had no interest in our proposal at all," a Foreign Ministry official said in describing the optimism on the Japanese side ahead of the weekend talks in Beijing.North Korea is believed to have agreed to meet Japan this weekend partly because of its worsening relationship with the United States.

Washington has stepped up economic sanctions on Pyongyang lately, including banning U.S. banks from doing business with a Macau bank suspected of involvement in North Korea's money laundering."It seems that Pyongyang, by accepting talks, is trying to maintain its channel of dialogue with Japan, which is close to the United States," a Japanese official said of North Korea's motives in this weekend's talks.

The government Wednesday decided to establish a new ambassadorial post to monitor North Korea's disposal of nuclear materials and verify the process. Tadamichi Yamamoto, currently ambassador in charge of counterterrorism and reconstruction of Iraq, was appointed to the post Thursday while retaining his current title.In the last round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program in November, Japan proposed to establish working groups - on nuclear disposal and verification, economic and energy assistance for North Korea, and regional security - within the six-nation framework.

The six parties to the talks currently are examining the proposal.In another step in the diplomatic efforts related to North Korea, a Liberal Democratic Party panel working on possible economic sanctions against Pyongyang on Wednesday unveiled a draft of a bill to raise public awareness of the human rights situation under the Pyongyang regime. The draft calls for both central and local government initiatives in raising public opinion on the human rights issue in North Korea.It also urges the central government to report yearly to the Diet on the human rights situation in North Korea and promote cooperation with foreign governments as well as nongovernmental organizations working on the issue.