Japan raps N. Korea for trying to link 6-way talks to U.S. sanctions

TOKYO, Dec. 7 Kyodo

Japan criticized North Korea on Wednesday for saying recently that resuming the six-way talks on its nuclear programs is impossible as long as the United States refuses to discuss lifting economic sanctions imposed on the North.

''We consider (that North Korea's call for bilateral talks with the United States) is an unconstructive attempt to put preconditions on holding the next six-party talks,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said in a news conference.

Japan urged Pyongyang during the previous six-way meeting last month not to attach preconditions -- what Abe called obstacles -- to the talks for reasons of its relations with the United States, said Abe, Tokyo's top spokesman.

Abe made the comments in reference to a commentary carried in North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Tuesday. It said the United States must agree to remove sanctions associated with a Macao-based bank Washington accuses of laundering counterfeit currency North Korea allegedly produced.

In Washington on Tuesday, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli denied there is any link between resuming the six-party talks and the U.S. sanctions, which he said are not a matter for negotiation.

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