DATE=4/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREA / TALKS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260921
BYLINE=HYUN SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Talks on establishing diplomatic ties
between Japan and North Korea are poised to
resume after a break of over seven years. As
Hyun-Sung Khang reports from Seoul, the
negotiations are going ahead despite the ill
health of Japanese Prime Minister, Keizo Obuchi.
TEXT: A Japanese delegation arrived in Pyongyang
Tuesday. During a stopover en-route, in Beijing,
Kojiro Takano, Japan's ambassador for the talks,
pledged to pursue the dialogue despite the change
in leadership in Japan caused by Prime Minister
Keizo Obuchi's stroke.
Prime Minister Obuchi was instrumental in
bringing the two countries back to the
negotiating table. Mr. Takano said the Prime
Minister had told him the talks were crucial to
Japan's foreign policy and instructed him to work
hard on the negotiations.
The three days of discussions are due to begin
Wednesday.
Tokyo has placed Pyongyang's missile program at
the top of the agenda. Japan wants a pledge from
North Korea that it will halt any further missile
tests. It was angered by the firing of a North
Korean medium-range missile over Japanese
territory in August 1998.
Tokyo also wants to pursue the fate of ten
Japanese citizens thought to have been kidnapped
by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
They are believed to have been abducted to teach
Pyongyang spies about everyday life in Japan. Mr.
Takano has said that Japan will not provide
additional food to the North until progress is
made on resolving the issue.
Pyongyang has always denied the kidnap
allegations. Last month it did promise to check
whether there were, what it described as,
"missing" Japanese in its territory.
For its part, North Korea is seeking an apology
and hefty compensation for Japan's harsh colonial
rule of the Korean peninsula, between 1910 and
1945. Although Japan has said it is ready to
apologize, Tokyo officials say they are not
prepared to accept any demands for compensation.
The dispute over the kidnapping matter, as well
as North Korea's suspected nuclear arms
development, led to the break-up of talks seven
and a half years ago. The two sides made a
breakthrough last December after Pyongyang agreed
to suspend missile tests and compromise on the
kidnap issue. But there is likely to be some
tough talking ahead, as the gap between the two
sides remains significant. (signed)
NEB/HSK/GC/FC
04-Apr-2000 06:05 AM EDT (04-Apr-2000 1005 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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