VIETNAM: The Japanese envoy in charge if holding bilateral talks with North Korea arrives in Hanoi

Record ID: 462904

  • Title: VIETNAM: The Japanese envoy in charge if holding bilateral talks with North Korea arrives in Hanoi
  • Date: 6th March 2007
  • Summary: (BN12) HANOI, VIETNAM (MARCH 5, 2007)(REUTERS) JAPANESE ENVOY TO BILATERAL TALKS KOICHI HARAGUCHI ENTERING TO ADDRESS MEDIA (SOUNDBITE)(Japanese) JAPANESE ENVOY TO BILATERAL TALKS KOICHI HARAGUCHI SAYING: "Our stance has been that there will be no normalization of ties if the abductee issue is not resolved. We had a Japan-North Korea bilateral meeting last February in Beijing and after that there were many incidents and in Japan there was a change in government but the stance that I just mentioned continues fundamentally and I will convey this to the North Koreans and I will also seek from them to make a strategic decision on the abductee issue." HARAGUCHI LEAVES
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2007 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVABG215EZQ8ZQ91R5TTAULBQQEJ
  • Story Text: The Japanese envoy in charge of holding bilateral talks with North Korea has arrived in Hanoi He stresses the need for resolving the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang agents before ties can be normalised. Ahead of a preliminary meeting between Japanese and North Korean diplomats in Hanoi, Japan's envoy to the talks arrived in Hanoi on Monday (March 5).
    He said during the two-day bilateral meeting on March 7-8, he would continue to press Japan's demand for resolving the issue of its citizens who were kidnapped by Pyongyang decades ago.
    "Our stance has been that there will be normalisation of ties if the abductee issue is not resolved. We had a Japan-North Korea bilateral meeting last February in Beijing and after that there were many incidents and in Japan there was a change in government but the stance that I just mentioned continues fundamentally and I will convey this to the North Koreans and I will also seek from them to make a strategic decision on the abductee issue," Haraguchi told reporters soon after reaching Vietnam's capital.
    Ahead of the official meeting, the envoys and delegations of the two countries are set to meet on March 6.
    The upcoming bilateral talks are part of an agreement reached at the last round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis.
    Japan has said it will not give economic assistance to North Korea or establish diplomatic relations unless the feud over the abductees -- an emotive one for many Japanese -- is somehow resolved.
    Japan is pressing for more information about those abducted in the 1970s and the 1980s, but North Korea says the matter is closed.
    Under the deal reached at this month's six-party talks, North Korea would receive energy aid in exchange for closing a nuclear reactor, but Japan has refused to pitch in, a decision analysts and some ruling party lawmakers say could leave Tokyo isolated.
    The six-party agreement requires Pyongyang to close its Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent aid, and another 950,000 tonnes or the equivalent will be offered when North Korea takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities.
    The six-party framework brings together the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.
    Japan was a big contributor to a 1994 multilateral agreement, which later collapsed, under which North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear programme in exchange for energy assistance.
    But in 2002, North Korea outraged many ordinary Japanese by admitting that Pyongyang had kidnapped Japanese nationals from their homeland to help train its spies in language and culture.
    Five were repatriated with their North Korea-born children and Pyongyang says eight others are dead.
    Japan is demanding better information about the eight and another three Tokyo says were also kidnapped, and wants any survivors sent home.
    The Hanoi meeting would be the first such talks since February last year, when Japanese and North Korean officials failed to make any substantial progress.
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