TOKYO - US Vice President Dick Cheney reassured Japan on Wednesday that the breakthrough North Korea nuclear deal was a “good first step” after a worried Tokyo refused to fund the pact. Cheney opened talks here at the start of a Pacific visit to close US allies Japan and Australia meant to step up cooperation over North Korea and war-torn Iraq.Japan was one of six nations involved in marathon talks in Beijing last week that led to an agreement for North Korea to shut key nuclear facilities in exchange for badly needed fuel oil. But Japan has refused to provide energy aid to the nuclear-armed communist regime until it resolves an emotionally charged row over the past kidnappings of Japanese nationals.
The vice president discussed the kidnappings among other issues in a breakfast meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride. Cheney told the Japanese government’s number-two that the North Korea deal was “a good first step,” McBride said. “They agreed to work together to watch North Korea.”
At JapanÂ’s request, the vice president added a last-minute meeting Thursday with Sakie and Shigeru Yokota, the parents of the most famous abduction victim, Megumi Yokota. Megumi was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when she was bundled aboard a North Korean ship off JapanÂ’s western coast in 1977. Pyongyang has admitted kidnapping her but says she is dead. Her case has triggered an outpouring of sympathy in Japan and growing international attention. Her mother met President George W. Bush at the White House last year.
On the eve of his meeting with Cheney, Abe met the families of the abduction victims and vowed never to establish diplomatic ties with North Korea until the cases are settled.