FOCUS: U.S.-N. Korea thaw deepens Japan crisis in 6-way talks

KYOTO, June 28 Kyodo - The U.S. action to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism dealt a blow to Japan as the country counted on a hard U.S. stance against North Korea for diplomatic leverage to settle the long-standing issue
of the North's abductions of Japanese nationals.

The thaw in U.S.-North Korea ties is likely to force Japan to perform a
balancing act in the six-nation framework, joining a multinational bid to talk
North Korea into abandoning its nuclear arsenal and getting tough with it
bilaterally on the abduction issue.

''Japan is faced with a very severe situation as its diplomatic presence could
become smaller'' in the multinational process, said Lee Jong Won, a South
Korean expert on international politics.

Top Japanese government officials are trying to dismiss concerns that the U.S.
move toward delisting North Korea as a terrorism-sponsoring state could derail
Japanese efforts to settle the abduction problem.

''I don't think so,'' Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said when asked if
he thinks the U.S. action means Japan has lost diplomatic leverage in relation
to the abduction issue.

The issue of the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and
1980s is an emotional one in Japan and has been an obstacle to the two
countries normalizing ties.

Fukuda said recently he would ''welcome'' the U.S. delisting of North Korea
following the delivery of a declaration of its nuclear programs, which occurred
Thursday.

But few took the comment as a consensus in his administration or a majority of
public opinion.

''Japanese people have been shocked'' by the U.S. move toward delisting North
Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura was quoted by Japanese
officials as telling U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley over the
phone.

Japan's real thought was also felt in a comment a senior Japanese Foreign
Ministry official made recently on condition of anonymity.

''We thought the United States did not have to delist North Korea,'' the
official said.

The latest development involving the United States and North Korea will help
boost a cooperative mood in the six-nation talks on denuclearizing North Korea
in return for aid and Japan will inevitably be dragged into the trend, some
Japanese officials and pundits suggested.

That means attention in the six-nation dialogue will increasingly focus on the
nuclear issue, totally upstaging the abduction issue, and Japan could be even
faced with calls to financially contribute to a joint aid project aimed at
encouraging North Korea to disarm itself of nuclear weapons, they indicated.
The United States and North Korea are key players in the multinational talks
that also involve China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
''We won't provide economic aid'' unless clear progress is made on the
abduction issue, the Foreign Ministry official said.
The diplomat struck a confident note that Japan's presence will remain strong
in the six-nation talks due to its economic power, saying, ''We will not be
left out alone...Japan is the only country that can provide large-scale
financial aid for North Korea.''
Lee, a professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, said the circumstance
surrounding Japan shows a lack of long-term strategy in Japanese diplomacy
toward North Korea as well as the six-nation talks.
''Japan should be more realistic rather than being emotional,'' Lee said.
Fukuda and Japanese diplomats need to have their own strategies to take
advantage of the looming new phase of the six-party talks to settle the
abduction issue, rather than only asking other countries to help, he said.
Fukuda made a promise while campaigning before taking the premiership last
September: ''I will settle the abduction issue myself.''
Now the 71-year-old premier is tested as to whether he can make good on the
pledge while the kin of the Japanese abductees strongly criticized the Japanese
government for failing to complain about the U.S. move widely taken as a
turning point.
''The relations between the government and us may change. I've started to doubt
the government will really risk its fate'' in bids to resolve the problem,
Teruyuki Masumoto, the outspoken secretary general of a group of abductees'
kin, said. His sister Rumiko was among 17 Japanese who Tokyo formally
recognizes as victims of North Korean abduction.
''(The U.S. delisting) seems a bit too early. I feel very sorry,'' Sakie Yokota
said. Her daughter Megumi Yokota is a symbolic figure of the abduction cases as
she was abducted at 13 in 1977.
The Japanese diplomat suggested there is a rough road ahead of the six-nation
process even after North Korea finally declared its nuclear activities in line
with an October 2007 deal, after missing the initial end-of-2007 deadline.
''It seems difficult,'' the official said, after being asked if Japan thinks
six-nation work to verify the declaration, including on-site inspections and
interviews with relevant people, will be complete within 45 days.
U.S. President George W. Bush notified Congress on Thursday of a plan to remove
North Korea from the list and the decision will take effect 45 days after the
notification.
The United States put North Korea on the list in 1988 after the bombing of a
South Korean airliner the preceding year.
==Kyodo