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.