DATE=12/20/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=JAPAN-NORTH KOREA (L-O) NUMBER=2-257320 BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Talks between Japan and North Korea on humanitarian and political issues are in danger of being postponed. V-O- A's Stephanie Ho reports the talks were due to start Monday in Beijing. TEXT: A two-day meeting between Foreign Ministry officials from both Tokyo and Pyongyang did not start as scheduled Monday. A Japanese official held out hope that the two sides may still meet late in the day, but added it is hard to tell at this point. Meantime, a second day of talks between the Japanese and North Korean Red Cross organizations has also stalled. The Japanese official confirmed the delay, but gave no details as to the remaining sticking points. Representatives from both Red Cross organizations met for two hours in Beijing Sunday, to discuss the issue of Japanese food aid to impoverished North Korea. There talks were originally scheduled to be completed Monday. Tokyo imposed sanctions on North Korea last year, after Pyongyang test-fired a long-range missile that flew over Japan. The Japanese government halted food aid shipments to North Korea, which has been suffering from a famine for the last five years. It also suspended some air links and talks on establishment of diplomatic relations. Some of the sanctions have already been eased and Japan said last week it would lift the remaining penalties. However Japanese officials have said any resumption of food aid would depend on progress in the talks in Beijing. Pyongyang and Tokyo began normalization talks in early 1991. But these discussions broke down in November 1992, after Japanese accusations that North Korean spies kidnapped and murdered at least 10 Japanese in the 1970's and 1980's. (SIGNED) NEB/HO/FC 20-Dec-1999 05:27 AM EDT (20-Dec-1999 1027 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
