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Japan and N.Korea start summit,progress expected
( 2002-09-17 10:53 ) (7 )

North Korea will respond to a key Japanese demand by providing information on three Japanese citizens, including one of 11 people Tokyo says were kidnapped by North Korean agents, Japanese media said on Tuesday as the leaders of the two nations began landmark talks in Pyongyang.

The high-risk summit between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il could improve strained ties and ease regional tensions + or make Koizumi look like a diplomatic flop.

Japan has made progress on the abduction issue a condition for resuming talks on normalising ties with Pyongyang.

The issue is an emotional one in Japan and relatives of the missing people + whom North Korea has denied abducting + want to know the fate of all 11 people.

In a low-key ceremony at Sunan Airport 25 km (15 miles) from Pyongyang, a solemn-faced Koizumi + the first Japanese prime minister to visit the reclusive communist state + was greeted by officials including de facto head of state Kim Yong-nam.

"Thank you for coming meet me," Koizumi said.

"We appreciate you coming such a long distance," Kim Yong-nam replied as the two shook hands. Pyongyang is roughly two hours by plane from Tokyo, but a world away by almost any other measure.

North Korea appears to be emerging from its Cold War cocoon to reach out to the outside world, while Koizumi is keen for a diplomatic coup to bolster his popularity.

Some experts worry, though, that Koizumi will be too eager to make concessions in return for empty promises.

"By all means, I want North Korea to become a responsible member of international society," Koizumi said before boarding his plane for the one-day visit.

But he said normalisation could not happen without progress on the abduction issue. "I think they know that too," he said.

MAKE OR BREAK

The trip could make or break Koizumi's career, but the implications go far beyond bilateral ties and domestic politics.

Diplomats in Washington and other capitals will be watching for clues as to how far Kim will engage with the world community in return for badly needed economic aid as it embarks on tentative reforms.

Kim is also thought keen to convince the United States it does not deserve to be linked with Iraq in an "axis of evil" at a time when US President George W. Bush is seeking international support for a military attack to oust Saddam Hussein.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday that Iraq had agreed to readmit United Nations weapons inspectors without conditions.

That could boost pressure on Pyongyang to let international inspectors take a look at its own nuclear programme.

Koizumi is under intense domestic pressure to find a solution to the abductee issue.

"We are waiting with hopes and unease to hear the results," said Shigeru Yokota, father of Megumi Yokota, who was 13 when she disappeared in 1977 on her way home from school in northern Japan, adding the relatives wanted confirmation of the welfare of all the missing and for all those alive to come home.

Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic relations.

Talks on establishing ties have been stalled for two years over the abduction issue and Pyongyang's demand for an apology and compensation for Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910-45.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

Japan has so far refused to consider reparations, saying Japan and Korea were not in a state of war, but the Pyongyang summit would provide a golden opportunity for the Japanese leader to apologise and smooth the path for progress on other issues.

Analysts say North Korea, hit hard by several years of natural disasters and chronic food and energy shortages, wants to improve ties with the West to secure desperately needed aid.

Kim is expected to agree to accept economic aid instead of direct compensation for Japan's colonial rule. Tokyo gave South Korea $500 million + $300 million as a grant and the rest in loans + when the two neighbours normalised ties in 1965.

Analysts have said Tokyo could provide up to $10 billion to the economically crippled North.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung is hoping Koizumi's trip will support his efforts to keep North-South ties on track and draw the North out into international society.

Some experts worry that Koizumi, a diplomatic novice, will play into the hands of the wily North Korean leader.

"Anyone 'supping with the devil' needs to be sceptical about what is offered to him and ensure that the devil does not win the propaganda battle that inevitably follows," former British Ambassador to Japan Hugh Cortazzi said in the Japan Times.

Others say the risks of failure are bigger for Kim and that Koizumi is well aware that Washington wants progress on security issues, including an extension of North Korea's moratorium on testing long-range missiles beyond January 2003.

The United States also wants Pyongyang to live up to a 1994 agreement by allowing in International Atomic Energy Agency officials to inspect its nuclear programme.