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DPRK, Japan talks finish without agreements
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-08 11:41
North Korea and Japan on Wednesday ended five days of
high-level talks aimed at establishing diplomatic relations without any formal
agreements, citing major differences on key issues including the abductions
Japanese nationals by the North.
Koichi Haraguchi
(L), the head of the Japanese delegation, and his aides attend the fifth
day meeting with their North Korean counterparts (R) in Beijing February
8, 2006. [Reuters] |
Both sides agreed to meet again for another round of discussions to "narrow
our differences," Song Il Ho, the North's chief representative said after a
30-minute session to wrap up the talks, which began in Beijing on Saturday.
They are the highest-level contacts in three years about possible diplomatic
ties between the two. No date has been set for the next round, Song said.
"For the last five
days we discussed the issue of normalization, abductions and security," he said.
"We got to know each other's positions more clearly. At the same time, however,
we discovered that there's a big difference of opinion."
The abduction dispute has proven to be the most contentious, with two
meetings held on the issue during the current round of talks but no reported
breakthroughs.
"One achievement of the dialogue is that we were able to
make clear our concerns and demands to the North Korean side," Chief Cabinet
Secretary Shinzo Abe said in Tokyo. "However, as for the abduction issue, the
North Korean side unfortunately did not respond to our demands. I find this
extremely regrettable."
Koichi Haraguchi, Japan chief negotiator for
talks with North Korea, attends a news conference in Beijing February 8,
2006. Talks between Japan and North Korea ended in rancour on Wednesday
with both sides as far apart as ever over abductions of Japanese citizens
and no agreement on when Pyongyang might return to six-way talks on its
nuclear programme.[Reuters] |
Japan has been pushing for information on Japanese who were abducted by the
North's agents in the 1970s and '80s. The North in 2002 acknowledged abducting
13 Japanese and allowed five to return home. It said the other eight were dead,
but Japan is demanding proof.
Negotiators have also been discussing whether North Koreans who were involved
with the kidnappings will be brought to justice.
On Tuesday, the North said it wants Japan to hand over members of Rescue the
North Korean People, a Japanese-based activist group. But it wasn't clear
whether the North was making that a condition of forming diplomatic relations.
The North Koreans also demanded the return of the remains of Megumi Yokota, a
Japanese woman who the North said was abducted by its agents. Japan says tests
showed the remains handed over earlier weren't those of Yokota.
Envoys also talked about the North's nuclear and missile programs, possible
reparations by Japan for its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and
the return of cultural relics.
Japanese alarm at the North's missile program has mounted since it shocked
Tokyo in 1998 by firing a missile over northern Japan. It has since conducted
several tests on short-range missiles, especially during heightened tensions
over its nuclear weapons program.
Japanese officials in Tokyo said Tuesday that Pyongyang reiterated that it
will not return to six-nation disarmament talks hosted by China unless the
United States ends its economic sanctions against the North.
The talks also involve China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
North Korea pledged in September to give up its nuclear programs in exchange
for aid and security assurances. But progress has stalled since then, in part
because of North Korean anger over financial restrictions that Washington
imposed over alleged North Korean counterfeiting and weapons
proliferation.
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