Gaffe by Japanese leader overshadows talks on N. Korea ties

October 30, 2000
Web posted at: 2:08 AM HKT (1808 GMT)

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- A diplomatic gaffe by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori could cast a shadow over a new round of talks with North Korea this week on establishing diplomatic relations, analysts say.

Mori caused a furor when he told British Prime Minister Tony Blair on October 20 that he had suggested solving a dispute with North Korea over Japanese citizens whom Tokyo says were kidnapped by Pyongyang by having them "found" in a third country.

The disclosure of a confidential diplomatic matter could scupper a viable solution to the abduction issue, according to analysts.

"Prime Minister Mori's comment has made it all the more difficult for the two governments to resolve the dispute," said Noriyuki Suzuki, chief analyst at Radiopress news agency, which specializes in monitoring North Korean media.

The alleged abduction of 10 Japanese citizens in the 1960s and 1970s is one of the thorniest issues barring the two historic foes from establishing diplomatic relations. Tokyo insists progress on the issue is a condition for normalizing ties.

North Korea has denied abducting anyone but has agreed to launch a nationwide investigation into the fate of what it calls "missing" Japanese nationals.

No breakthrough expected

Negotiators from the two countries are set to begin two days of normalization talks in Beijing on Monday.

A Japanese government source said in Beijing on Sunday the two sides would have "substantive" discussions on Tokyo's rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

But the source said no major breakthrough was expected.

North Korea has set a chilly tone for the talks, saying Japan's charges of abduction and inability to apologise for colonizing the Korean peninsula made it impossible to trust Tokyo and improve relations.

"Even at the historic turn of the century, Japan, clamoring about a non-existent 'kidnapping issue' of North Korea, still refuses to make a proper apology for the unprecedented crimes the Japanese imperialists committed in the past," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the North's ruling party paper as saying.

"Without Japan's honest reflection and apology there can be no trust and improved relations between North Korea and Japan," KCNA reported.

Japan and North Korea have held two rounds of talks aimed at resuming ties this year, but have failed to narrow gaps over Pyongyang's demands for an apology and compensation for Japan's harsh rule of the Korean peninsula.

Japan has refused North Korea's demand for compensation, but floated the idea of something similar to what it provided to South Korea when they normalized ties in 1965 when it gave aid worth $500 million.

Japan was considering extending some $9 billion in economic aid to the communist state, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper has said.

Change of plan

Japanese government sources said prior to Mori's blunder Tokyo had tentatively planned to discuss its undisclosed aid scheme in the Beijing talks.

"The plan was virtually scrapped. But we could revive it depending on the North Korean response," one source said.

A source close to the North Korean government said its negotiators were expected to touch on Mori's verbal blunder and make Pyongyang's position clear that it was not involved in the disappearance of the Japanese citizens.

"What Mori said implies that the DPRK (North Korea) actually kidnapped the Japanese nationals. That is absolutely not acceptable," the source said.

The families of those believed to have been kidnapped have stepped up their calls on the government not to forget the fate of their loved ones.

In historic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang last week, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright brought up the abduction issue. Kim stayed silent.

Japan, eager to keep up the momentum of normalization talks, approved a controversial plan this month to donate 500,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the World Food Program.

But analysts warn that Japan could run the risk of being isolated and losing its diplomatic influence in Asia if it drags its feet on efforts to improve ties with Pyongyang.

"Japan might become increasingly isolated while other countries open diplomatic relations with North Korea," said Nozomu Akizuki, a professor of Asian diplomacy at Tokyo's Meiji Gakuin University. "Japan is walking on a dangerous bridge."

Britain, Germany and Spain have revealed plans to establish diplomatic ties with North Korea.

The moves follow June's historic summit in which the South Korean president flew to Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong-il.

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