U.S. keeps N. Korea as terror-sponsoring state, cites abductions

Japan Policy & Politics, May 2, 2005

WASHINGTON, April 27 Kyodo

The U.S. State Department once again mentioned the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in an annual report on global terrorism that was released Wednesday.

The State Department listed North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria as ''state sponsors of terrorism'' in the ''Country Reports on Terrorism 2004'' submitted to Congress.

The abduction issue was mentioned for the first time in last year's report. This year's report notes the recent contentious issue of Pyongyang providing remains to Japan that it said belonged to Japanese abductees.

In November, Pyongyang ''returned to Japan what it identified as the remains of two Japanese abductees whom the North had reported as having died in North Korea,'' the department said. ''Subsequent DNA testing in Japan indicated the remains were not those of Megumi Yokota or Kaoru Matsuki, as Pyongyang had claimed.''

It also explains past developments regarding the abduction issue, starting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's acknowledgement in September 2002 of abducing Japanese nationals, then the North allowing the return of five surviving abductees in 2003 and letting eight of their family members go to Japan in 2004.

''Questions about the fate of other abductees remain the subject of ongoing negotiations'' between Japan and North Korea, the department said.

The latest report also mentions that four of the Red Army Faction members, who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane and fled to North Korea in 1970, remain there, while five of their family members returned to Japan in 2004.

The department also kept Japan's AUM Shinrikyo cult, which carried out the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attacks, on the list of terrorist organizations. AUM Shinrikyo renamed itself Aleph in 2000.

In referring to the terrorism-sponsoring states, the department said, ''Most worrisome is that these countries also have the capabilities to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and other destabilizing technologies that could fall into the hands of terrorists.''

Iran and Syria are of ''special concern'' for their ''direct, open and prominent role'' in supporting Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist groups, their ''unhelpful'' action in Iraq, and Iran's unwillingness to bring to justice senior al-Qaida members it detained in 2003, the department said.

The department removed Iraq from the list, while keeping Libya and Sudan, although it acknowledged the two nations took ''significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism.''

In 2004, there were 651 acts of international terrorism in 2004, up more than three times from 208 in 2003, according to a separately released tally.

International terrorism continued to pose a ''significant'' threat to the United States and its partners in 2004 despite ongoing improvements in U.S. homeland security, military campaigns against insurgents and terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deepening counterterrorism cooperation among the nations of the world, the department said.

Against this backdrop, it stressed the need to boost domestic security measures and to strengthen international cooperation.

As for the East Asian and Pacific region, the department said significant'' progress was made in 2004 to prevent terrorist attacks and create an ''international environment inhospitable to terrorists.''

But Southeast Asia continues to be an ''attractive theater of operations'' for terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf group, it said.

In Japan, there were ''no serious incidents'' of international or domestic terrorism in 2004, the department said.