Japan and N Korea to resume talks

06/06/2008| IslamWeb

Japan is to resume talks with North Korea after a gap of more than nine months, its foreign minister said.

Masahiko Komura said senior officials from the two sides would meet in Beijing over the weekend to exchange views on bilateral ties.

 

Tokyo wants a dispute over abducted Japanese nationals to be resolved before establishing a formal diplomatic relationship with Pyongyang.

 

The two last held talks in September 2007 but no progress was made.

 

Talks would begin on Saturday in the Chinese capital, Mr Komura said.

 

"The talks will be about the current situation between Japan and North Korea, and about how to deal with the future of the bilateral relations," he said.

 

But he made clear he did not anticipate a breakthrough.

 

''If the other side suddenly comes up with some kind of offer (on the abduction issue), of course that would be good. But I am not holding such high expectations from tomorrow's meeting,'' Kyodo News agency quoted him as saying.

 

Abduction row

 

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had abducted 13 Japanese nationals in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

 

It has returned five of them and says the remaining eight are dead. It says the issue has now been resolved.

 

But Japan wants concrete proof of the deaths and believes that several more of its citizens were taken.

 

North Korea, meanwhile, is seeking reparations for Japan's 35-year colonisation of the Korean peninsula.

 

The bilateral talks are part of a six-nation deal agreed in February 2007 under which North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programme in return for aid.

 

Progress on implementing this deal remains stalled over North Korea's failure to provide a complete accounting of all its nuclear activities.

 

In recent weeks, however, negotiators have expressed hope that such a declaration could be forthcoming.

North Korea tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:

 

Japan's FM, Masahiko Komura

 

 

BBC