DATE=4/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREA - JAPAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261038
BYLINE=HYUN-SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Talks aimed at establishing diplomatic
relations between North Korea and Japan have ended
without an agreement. But Hyun-Sung Khang reports from
Seoul, both sides have expressed optimism and promised
to meet again next
month.
TEXT: These initial discussions in Pyongyang between
Japan and North Korea were not
expected to produce immediate results. There were too
many points of strong disagreement. But a joint news
release issued Friday, described the talks as
"sincere" and confirmed that the two
countries will meet in Tokyo next month to continue
discussions on how to - in the words of the release:
"liquidate the past" and improve relations.
North Korea's chief negotiator compared the diplomatic
encounter to a mountain hike. He was quoted as saying
that the two countries have to climb to the summit of
the mountain, but they are still at its foot.
Pyongyang's vice foreign minister also reiterated his
country's position that Japan must apologize and make
compensation for its colonial rule of the Korean
peninsula, from 1910 to 1945.
For his part, the Japanese representative to the
negotiations said his country's new cabinet under
Yoshiro Mori, is determined to improve relations
between the two countries. However Tokyo is insisting
that the issue of 10 Japanese nationals, thought to
have been kidnapped by
North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, must be resolved
before there can be normalization of relations between
the two countries.
Japan also wants a pledge that North Korea will halt
its missile program. In 1998 officials in Tokyo were
infuriated by Pyongyang's launch of a medium-range
ballistic missile over Japan. The two countries only
agreed to resume talks after North Korea pledged to
suspend further missile tests and said it would look
for, what it described as "missing citizens" from
Japan.
The last rapprochement talks between the two countries
collapsed more than seven years ago, after Tokyo
raised the kidnapping issue and protested against
Pyongyang's suspected nuclear arms program.
Following next month's meeting in Tokyo, there is
expected to be yet another session in Beijing later
this year. (SIGNED)
NEB/HSK/FC/PLM
07-Apr-2000 05:54 AM EDT (07-Apr-2000 0954 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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