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North Korea, Japan to resume dialogue

Japan and North Korea will hold talks over the weekend on the latter's abductions of Japanese citizens, the North's nuclear weapons development and other issues, Japan said yesterday.

The talks -- the first between the two since unsuccessful meetings on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 -- will take place in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday, the Foreign Ministry and government officials said.

The two countries are at odds over the North's nuclear weapons, its ballistic missile program, the abductions and Pyongyang's demand for compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Japan's top spokesman said that Tokyo will further press Pyongyang on the abductions, warning that progress on normalization of ties between the two would hinge on solving the kidnappings.

"We will again demand strongly the return of the survivors, investigations into the matter, and the handover of suspects," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said. "We want to state clearly there will be no normalization of ties without the solution of the abduction issue."

Impoverished North Korea is eager to establish relations with Japan in hopes of winning investment and development aid, while Tokyo is primarily interested in neutralizing the military threat posed by Pyongyang.
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