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
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