The Hindu : N. Korea: Japan keen on normalising ties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 19, 2002

International

International

N. Korea: Japan keen on normalising ties

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 18. As the Japanese people started coming to terms with the revelation that North Korea had indeed kidnapped some of their compatriots at the height of the Cold War, Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, today expressed his determination to normalise the ties between the two countries with great care and sensitivity.

Even as Mr. Koizumi conceded that Japan had not moved fast enough in the past to resolve the issues concerning the abductions, it became clear that he now intended to set up a Cabinet-level task force to address the overall issue of normalisation of relations with North Korea. The issues to be addressed will include Japan's concerns about North Korea's "spy ships'' and its missile-launch capabilities. Despite noting that the Japanese Government "must repent'' its past tardiness in dealing with the abductions issue, Mr. Koizumi today indicated that he would not swerve from the path that he and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, had sketched out yesterday at their historic summit in Pyongyang. In post-summit press comments, Mr. Koizumi said it would be possible for the two sides to move from "hostile relations to cooperative relations'' as long as they could "sincerely abide by'' the declaration signed by him in conjunction with Mr. Kim. Besides expressing such optimism on the bilateral front, Mr. Koizumi indicated that a spin-off effect of wider international interest was Mr. Kim's announcement that North Korea "would freeze all (ballistic) missile launchings without any time limit''.

Mr. Kim hinted too, that he would be inclined to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency's detectives to inspect North Korea's suspected sites for the production of mass-destruction weapons. On the larger question of Pyongyang's desire to integrate itself with the international community, Mr. Koizumi quoted Mr. Kim as saying that his ``doors are always open for dialogue in relations between North Korea and the U.S.'' Mr. Kim's offer came in the context of the latest comment by the U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, that "North Korea is one of the world's worst proliferators''.

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N. Korea: Japan keen on normalising ties