South Korea gave a guarded response yesterday to a Japanese deal to ease sanctions against North Korea, stressing the need to maintain a united front against Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Thursday that Tokyo would relax some sanctions if North Korea delivers on a pledge to reinvestigate the cases of Japanese nationals kidnapped to train spies.
The breakthrough followed days of talks between the two sides in Sweden, and marked the most significant engagement between Pyongyang and the outside world in many months.
However, it comes at a time when others in the international community are pushing for North Korea’s economic and diplomatic isolation to be deepened, rather than relaxed.
And it will do little to improve ties between Tokyo and Seoul, which are already at their lowest ebb for years over a series of historic bilateral disputes.
In a statement, the South Korean foreign ministry said that Seoul appreciated the emotional pull for Tokyo of the long-standing and highly charged kidnapping issue.
“The government, from a humanitarian standpoint, understands Japan’s stance concerning the issue of Japanese abductees,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The sanctions that Tokyo is considering easing are not of major significance.
“Japan has decided to lift special restrictions on travel by people, reporting requirements on remittances ... as well as the ban on North Korea-registered vessels entering Japanese ports for humanitarian purposes,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
The unilateral sanctions are in addition to UN strictures placed on Pyongyang, which are unaffected.
“Japan will study the possibility of extending humanitarian assistance to North Korea at an appropriate time from a humanitarian standpoint,” a written Japanese statement distributed to reporters said.
North Korea outraged Japan when it admitted more than a decade ago that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to tutor its spies in Japanese language and customs.
Five of the abductees were allowed to return to Japan, but Pyongyang has insisted, without producing solid evidence, that the eight others are dead.
The subject is a highly charged one in Japan, where there are suspicions that dozens or perhaps even hundreds of other people were taken.
“Our mission will never end until the day comes when families of all abduction victims are able to embrace their children with their own arms,” Abe said. “We have tackled the problem with this determination and we hope that this will be the first step toward an overall solution.”
Abe has spent considerable energy on the issue — one he called “a top priority” — since coming to power in late 2012, aware that a victory would give him enormous domestic capital.
However, Toshio Miyatsuka, an expert on North Korean issues at Yamanashi Gakuin University, warned that a win was far from in the bag.
“This is a risky gamble as the abduction issue is a hard one to resolve in a way that everyone will find satisfactory, and North Korea is an unpredictable partner,” he told reporters.
While relations with South Korea remain testy — Pyongyang has unleashed torrents of invective against its neighbor — its attitude toward Japan has softened in recent months.
A conciliatory dispatch by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang’s channel of communication with the outside, stressed the gear shift in ties.
“The Japanese side reclarified its will to settle its inglorious past, solve the pending issues and normalize the relations together with the DPRK [North Korean] side,” the report said.
“The DPRK side agreed to simultaneously conduct a comprehensive survey of all Japanese, including the remains and graves of Japanese, remaining Japanese, Japanese spouses, victims of abduction and missing persons,” KCNA said.
KCNA added that the North would take “necessary measures” to return any remains to Japan.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
MILITARY’S MAN: Myint Swe was diagnosed with neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy disease, and had authorized another to perform his duties Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s acting president under controversial circumstances after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, died yesterday, the military said. He was 74. He died at a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, in the morning, Myanmar’s military information office said in a statement. Myint Swe’s death came more than a year after he stopped carrying out his presidential duties after he was publicly reported to be ailing. His funeral is to be held at the state level, but the date had not been disclosed, a separate statement from the
RSS