2ND LD: N Korea warns Japan for resorting only to pressure

BEIJING, July 21 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING QUOTES)

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said Saturday that he has warned Japan over its policy of resorting solely to pressure to resolve bilateral issues.

''Japan should know that problems will not be resolved only with pressure,'' Kim told reporters at Beijing airport, referring to a meeting held Thursday with his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae on the sidelines of the three-day six-party talks that ended Friday.

''I told them that if they take further (pressurizing) steps, there will be disaster, so be careful,'' he said.

His comments came amid North Korea's strong criticism of Japan's recent action requiring the auctioning off of the headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon.

According to a Japanese official, Sasae explained Japan's position over the Chongryon issue, and Kim listened.

Sasae, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, told reporters Thursday after the meeting with Kim that they agreed to make ''mutual'' efforts to resolve various pending bilateral issues and to move the six-party talks forward.

After the six-party talks on Friday, Sasae said Japan and North Korea need to work toward resolving thorny bilateral issues and reiterated that Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese nationals remain ''the most important issue'' for Japan.

Japan maintains a policy of not participating in energy and other aid to North Korea until progress is made toward resolving the abduction issue.

While the two chief delegates to the six-party talks met bilaterally on the sidelines, North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused Japan the same day of ''abusing'' the abduction issue.

In a memorandum issued through the official Korean Central News Agency, the ministry warned that the nuclear issue will remain unsettled if Japan fails to fulfill its commitments to provide energy aid.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had abducted and taken to its territory 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. It returned five of them to Japan but maintains the other eight have died -- a claim rejected by the Japanese government.

Tokyo wants Pyongyang to reinvestigate the abduction issue and return what it believes are surviving abductees.

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