North Korea has risked angering Japan just days before crucial talks by reportedly demanding cash and aid in return for allowing the children of five Japanese nationals who were abducted by Pyongyang agents in the late 1970s to be reunited with their parents.
According to a report in the newspaper Nihon Keizai, North Korea wants Japan to pay ?1 billion for the return of each of the abductees' children.
The report quoted Katsue Hirasawa, a Japanese Liberal Democratic member of parliament (MP), as saying that the demands were passed on to a delegation of Japanese MPs during a trip to South Korea last month.
On Wednesday, the newspaper Tokyo Shimbun reported that North Korea was also demanding that Japan should resume food aid and agree not to mention the abduction issue when the countries join talks in Beijing next week aimed at resolving the row about Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons program.
Japan is unlikely to accept the demands. It is expected to continue to push for the unconditional return of the children, who are in their teens and 20s and have not seen their parents since last year.
The parents returned to Japan after a ground-breaking meeting in Pyongyang last September between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
At that meeting North Korea admitted that it had abducted 13 Japanese nationals, but said eight of them had died.
It has turned down requests to allow the children of the five survivors to travel to Japan, drawing accusations that it is using them as a bargaining chip.
Reflecting widespread anger at the abductions, Japan cut food aid to the impoverished country and insisted that the abduction issue and the nuclear standoff must be resolved before it would be restored.
Koizumi is under pressure in Japan to resolve other suspected abductions. Campaigners say that more than 100 people have been snatched and taken to North Korea in the past 40 years to teach their language and culture to spies.
Koizumi, who is making an official visit to Europe, has won the backing of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller for his stance on the abductions.
The deal reportedly suggested by Pyongyang is being seen as an attempt to exclude the abduction issue from the agenda when the two countries, along with China, South Korea, Russia and the US, meet next Wednesday for talks in Beijing.
An editorial in the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun said: "The abduction issue is not suitable for discussion at the six-way talks. Participating nations should be careful not to include unnecessary affairs on the agenda."
Pyongyang's move is one of several robust gestures made in the run-up to the talks.
Next Monday a North Korean ferry will call at the Japanese port of Niigata for the first time in seven months.
Japan suspects the vessel of being involved in espionage and drug smuggling, and has vowed to search it.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on Friday said that his father, jailed former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, has chosen him to lead the country’s powerful conservative movement, shaking up next year’s election race. The 44-year-old senator said on social media that he will carry forward the political legacy that reshaped Brazilian politics. His announcement makes him an instant contender for the presidency. Jair Bolsonaro, 70, is unlikely to run after being sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup and banned from public office. He is appealing and seeking a legislative pardon. The former president also faces serious health issues, including complications from a
RSS