Japan urged North Korea on yesterday to return to six-way talks on the North's nuclear weapons program in a third day of meetings focusing on the fate of missing Japanese citizens kidnapped by Northern spies, Japanese officials said.
"We were hoping to take this opportunity and discuss the six-nation talks," Japanese delegation chief Mitoji Yabunaka said at the beginning of yesterday's meeting in Pyongyang.
The comments were included in footage provided by North Korea and shown by Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's vice foreign minister, said only that he hoped they could discuss "the problems pending between the two countries."
The two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US have held three rounds of talks on North Korea's nuclear program since last year, but without breakthroughs.
A fourth round scheduled for September never happened because Pyongyang refused to attend, demanding that the US abandon what it called its hostile policy of trying to topple its government, and provide economic aid and security guarantees in exchange for a freeze on its nuclear activities.
Japanese and North Korean officials were to discuss the abduction issue later yesterday.
North Korea has admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to teach Japanese language and customs to its spies. Pyongyang released five Japanese in 2002, but said the eight others had died.
Many Japanese suspect the eight, as well as other unconfirmed abduction victims, may still be alive, and Tokyo has demanded a more comprehensive investigation from the North.
Yesterday, Japanese officials were expected to demand the North provide new findings of their latest investigation, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Calls for economic sanctions against the North have been growing in Tokyo as a way of pressuring Pyongyang for information on the fate of those kidnapped.
Pyongyang barred Japanese media from the country to cover the talks, and Tokyo said it could not immediately confirm whether yesterday's meeting had begun as scheduled.
In a 12-hour meeting on Wed-nesday, the two sides discussed relations over the last few months and the North Koreans explained some of the results of their investigation, the ministry said, without providing further details.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS