7TH LD: Japan, N. Korea achieve no breakthrough, agree to meet again

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Nov 7, 2005

BEIJING, Nov. 4 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH BRIEFING BY JAPANESE GOV'T OFFICIAL)

Japan and North Korea wrapped up two days of talks on Friday without a breakthrough on thorny issues such as Japan's concerns about North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals, but agreed to meet again soon, their head delegates said.

The two sides also discussed the idea of holding discussions separately on issues such as the abduction dispute and the North's demand for Japan to atone for its brutal 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, Japan's chief delegate said.

''While there were times when the two sides exchanged severe words, the working-level talks were beneficial, and we will make arrangements to meet again soon,'' Akitaka Saiki, deputy head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, said.

Speaking separately to reporters, Song Il Ho, vice director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, described the talks as useful, adding that the two sides will decide on the next round of talks through diplomatic channels.

''I think the talks were useful,'' Song said. ''Although there are no agreements, I would like to think that both sides are hoping that we can move in a direction toward a solution.''

The talks, which began Thursday in the Chinese capital, mark the two countries' first bilateral governmental negotiations in a year.

Saiki said that during the talks, he proposed discussing three topics separately -- the abduction issue, the settlement of Japan's past actions and security.

While exactly how to do this is still up to discussion, the idea is to hold such talks ''on a parallel basis,'' Saiki said. ''Both sides will consider this idea,'' he added.

Japanese Foreign Ministry officials had said prior to the talks that they may table the idea of setting up working groups in a bid to prevent specific issues from deadlocking the entire bilateral process.

Both Japan and North Korea said differences remained over the abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

''There was no specific progress on this point during the current round of talks,'' a Japanese Foreign Ministry official briefing reporters said.

A particular point of contention involves the cremated remains North Korea gave the Japanese delegation during the previous bilateral talks in November 2004, saying they were those of abduction victim Megumi Yokota.

Yokota was kidnapped and taken to North Korea in 1977 at age 13 and, according to the North Korean government, committed suicide in 1993 while being treated for depression.

Japan later said a DNA analysis of the remains showed they were not Yokota's but of two unknown people, and it lodged a strong protest with North Korea.

North Korea calls Japan's analysis a fabrication.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry official said during the current round of talks, North Korea ''expressed the same view it has in the past.''

''We believe there is a need to continue discussing this topic whenever the chance arises,'' the official said.

Yokota is one of 11 Japanese people Tokyo says North Korea abducted and remain unaccounted for. The figure was raised to 11 from 10 in April, when the Japanese government added a man who disappeared in the 1970s.

Pyongyang maintains that of the initial 10 people, eight died in North Korea after being kidnapped or going to North Korea voluntarily. It says the two others never entered the country.

Song, meanwhile, said the two sides agreed that issues remaining from the past needed to be settled.

''Of course, there are differences in views,'' Song said. ''But we did reach a common notion on the need to liquidate the past. The question of how that will be done will be discussed through governmental contacts,'' he said.

North Korea's priority in the talks has been to push Japan to atone for its brutal 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

When Japan and South Korea normalized diplomatic relations in 1965, Tokyo provided Seoul with $500 million, a substantial sum at the time, in grants and loans. North Korea is demanding an apology and compensation from Japan.

The bilateral talks were held prior to the next round of six-party negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programs, which is to begin next Wednesday in Beijing.

Japan and North Korea are participants in the six-party talks, which also involve the United States, China, South Korea and Russia.