NuTs62
09-17-2002, 01:59 AM
September 17, 2002 Posted: 3:55 AM EDT (0755 GMT)
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/17/nkorea.japan/vstory.koizumi.nkorea.ap.jpg
(Caption: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, center, speaks to Kim Yong Nam, left, North Korean Supreme People's Assembly Presidium Chairman, as he arrives in Pyongyang )
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- The leaders of Japan and North Korea have completed the first session of an historic meeting in Pyongyang, raising hopes of a breakthrough after more than five decades of tense relations.
It is the first time a Japanese prime minister has visited North Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have so far agreed
their two nations would resume talks on establishing diplomatic ties, Japan's NHK public broadcaster said.
Pyongyang had also confirmed that nine of 11 missing Japanese who Tokyo says were kidnapped by North Korean agents were alive. NHK later changed its report to say "several" of the missing were alive.
Japan has made progress on the abduction issue a condition for resuming talks on normalizing ties, stalled by a range of disputes which also include Pyongyang's demand for compensation for damage suffered under Tokyo's harsh 1910-1945 colonial rule.
For Koizumi, the trip represents an opportunity to score political points back home with a diplomatic coup but with the attendant risk attached to any perceived failure or willingness to make too many concessions to the isolationist North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
"This will be my first talks aiming at normalizing ties, but this will contribute not only to the peace of Japan and North Korea but the Korean peninsula, Northeast Asia and the world," Reuters reported Koizumi as saying before boarding his plane for the one-day trip.
"I want North Korea to become a responsible member of international society," he said.
Colonial atrocities
Japan has so far refused to consider reparations for its period of colonial rule, saying Japan and Korea were not in a state of war, but the Pyongyang summit would provide a golden opportunity for the Japanese leader to apologize and smooth the path for progress on other issues.
Analysts say North Korea, hit hard by several years of natural disasters and chronic food and energy shortages, wants to improve ties with the West to secure desperately needed aid.
Kim is expected to agree to accept economic aid instead of direct compensation for Japan's colonial rule. Tokyo gave South Korea $500 million -- $300 million as a grant and the rest in loans -- when the two neighbors normalized ties in 1965.
Analysts have said Tokyo could provide up to $10 billion to the economically crippled North.
Political gamble
Koizumi's visit is being seen by many observers as a political gamble that could either make or break his career.
Commentaries in Japanese newspapers have suggested that a positive outcome from the summit would help both regional security and give a much-needed boost to the prime minister's flagging popularity levels at home.
However, domestically at least, the most sensitive issue is that of the 11 Japanese Tokyo says were abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s.
On Monday, relatives of those alleged to have been kidnapped took their case to the prime minister's official residence to urge action in resolving the issue.
Their family members, they say, were abducted by North Korean agents from Japan and used to train spies in Japanese language and customs.
Facing massive pressure at home, Koizumi has promised that the issue will be given top priority in his talks with the North Korean leader.
'Axis of evil'
Aside from the kidnappings, the summit will also be closely watched by diplomats in Seoul and Washington looking for signs on how far North Korea might be willing to open up to the outside world.
In January this year U.S. President George W. Bush labeled North Korea -- along with Iran and Iraq -- part of what he called an "axis of evil" whose desire to develop weapons of mass destruction threatened world peace.
The "axis" tag sparked a furious reaction from Pyongyang and cast a new chill over relations between the United States and North Korea.
In recent months however, there have been signs of a thaw with a brief meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and the North Korean foreign minister in Brunei at the end of July, followed by suggestions that the U.S. might be prepared to send an envoy to Pyongyang.
Iraq agreed on Monday to readmit United Nations weapons inspectors without conditions, a move that could boost pressure on Pyongyang to let international inspectors take a look at its own nuclear program.
CNN Linkage (http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/17/nkorea.japan/index.html)
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With all the talk of war all over the world, terrorism, etc., thought this story was pretty cool. Any signs of peace in all parts of the world is good news, IMO. :)
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/17/nkorea.japan/vstory.koizumi.nkorea.ap.jpg
(Caption: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, center, speaks to Kim Yong Nam, left, North Korean Supreme People's Assembly Presidium Chairman, as he arrives in Pyongyang )
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- The leaders of Japan and North Korea have completed the first session of an historic meeting in Pyongyang, raising hopes of a breakthrough after more than five decades of tense relations.
It is the first time a Japanese prime minister has visited North Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have so far agreed
their two nations would resume talks on establishing diplomatic ties, Japan's NHK public broadcaster said.
Pyongyang had also confirmed that nine of 11 missing Japanese who Tokyo says were kidnapped by North Korean agents were alive. NHK later changed its report to say "several" of the missing were alive.
Japan has made progress on the abduction issue a condition for resuming talks on normalizing ties, stalled by a range of disputes which also include Pyongyang's demand for compensation for damage suffered under Tokyo's harsh 1910-1945 colonial rule.
For Koizumi, the trip represents an opportunity to score political points back home with a diplomatic coup but with the attendant risk attached to any perceived failure or willingness to make too many concessions to the isolationist North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
"This will be my first talks aiming at normalizing ties, but this will contribute not only to the peace of Japan and North Korea but the Korean peninsula, Northeast Asia and the world," Reuters reported Koizumi as saying before boarding his plane for the one-day trip.
"I want North Korea to become a responsible member of international society," he said.
Colonial atrocities
Japan has so far refused to consider reparations for its period of colonial rule, saying Japan and Korea were not in a state of war, but the Pyongyang summit would provide a golden opportunity for the Japanese leader to apologize and smooth the path for progress on other issues.
Analysts say North Korea, hit hard by several years of natural disasters and chronic food and energy shortages, wants to improve ties with the West to secure desperately needed aid.
Kim is expected to agree to accept economic aid instead of direct compensation for Japan's colonial rule. Tokyo gave South Korea $500 million -- $300 million as a grant and the rest in loans -- when the two neighbors normalized ties in 1965.
Analysts have said Tokyo could provide up to $10 billion to the economically crippled North.
Political gamble
Koizumi's visit is being seen by many observers as a political gamble that could either make or break his career.
Commentaries in Japanese newspapers have suggested that a positive outcome from the summit would help both regional security and give a much-needed boost to the prime minister's flagging popularity levels at home.
However, domestically at least, the most sensitive issue is that of the 11 Japanese Tokyo says were abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s.
On Monday, relatives of those alleged to have been kidnapped took their case to the prime minister's official residence to urge action in resolving the issue.
Their family members, they say, were abducted by North Korean agents from Japan and used to train spies in Japanese language and customs.
Facing massive pressure at home, Koizumi has promised that the issue will be given top priority in his talks with the North Korean leader.
'Axis of evil'
Aside from the kidnappings, the summit will also be closely watched by diplomats in Seoul and Washington looking for signs on how far North Korea might be willing to open up to the outside world.
In January this year U.S. President George W. Bush labeled North Korea -- along with Iran and Iraq -- part of what he called an "axis of evil" whose desire to develop weapons of mass destruction threatened world peace.
The "axis" tag sparked a furious reaction from Pyongyang and cast a new chill over relations between the United States and North Korea.
In recent months however, there have been signs of a thaw with a brief meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and the North Korean foreign minister in Brunei at the end of July, followed by suggestions that the U.S. might be prepared to send an envoy to Pyongyang.
Iraq agreed on Monday to readmit United Nations weapons inspectors without conditions, a move that could boost pressure on Pyongyang to let international inspectors take a look at its own nuclear program.
CNN Linkage (http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/17/nkorea.japan/index.html)
----------------------------------
With all the talk of war all over the world, terrorism, etc., thought this story was pretty cool. Any signs of peace in all parts of the world is good news, IMO. :)