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| Korea |
| Faced with stonewalling, North Korea now Acquiescent to Japanese demands |
| 2004-01-19 |
| EFL from NYT Facing a choice of Japanese sanctions or Japanese aid, North Korea is quietly taking steps to unblock its longstanding political logjam with the government in Tokyo. After 15 months of unremitting hostility, North Korea last week sent a series of signals that suggest a desire for warmer relations with Japan. No sea of fire? Where’s the cream filling? First, six adult children of Japanese hijackers from the Red Army faction, an extinct left-wing terror group, unexpectedly arrived here on Tuesday from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Then, North Korea floated a March 20 deadline for sending to Japan the children of five Japanese who had been kidnapped by North Korea years ago. The parents came here from North Korea in October 2002. On Saturday, four Japanese diplomats completed a visit to Pyongyang, the first by Japanese officials since relations between the countries soured in the fall of 2002. That was when North Korea first admitted that it had kidnapped Japanese citizens in the 1970’s and 80’s, who were forced to teach Japanese to North Korean intelligence agents. By clarifying the fates of as many as 100 kidnapped Japanese, North Korea could win Japan’s full participation in a second round of six-country talks, tentatively set for next month, that are intended to defuse North Korea’s nuclear threat. Normalization of relations could also mean the beginning of the payments, to total $10 billion, that Japan agreed to make in reparations for its colonial occupation of northern Korea in the first half of 20th century. "The North Koreans have come to an understanding that the Japanese can’t become a participant in nuclear talks with the abductee issue outstanding," Frank Jannuzi, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee aide, said here on Thursday, after a week of meetings in Pyongyang. If the issue of the kidnappings is not resolved to Japanese satisfaction, it is likely to strengthen support here for economic sanctions. On Friday, leaders of Japan’s governing coalition and the main opposition party agreed that soon after the Parliament reconvenes on Monday, they would submit legislation to empower Japan’s government to restrict trade and financial remittances to North Korea. As we learned in trade negotiations during the 1930’s, the Japanese don’t blink. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #3 No, they do blink, they're just slow learners. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-1-19 11:46:46 PM |
| #2 Interesting. When I first heard that the Japanese would not return the "visiting" kidnappees, I thought for sure their families held hostage in NKorea were goners. I am glad to be wrong (*if* they are in fact still alive). |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2004-1-19 6:55:36 PM |
| #1 physco Kimmie's not to be trusted,lets hope the Japs know that and don't fall for his tricks. |
| Posted by: Jon Shep U.K 2004-1-19 2:15:28 PM |