Aso Cabinet vows to strengthen Asia ties, resolve N. Korea abductions

TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo -
(EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE INFO THROUGHOUT)
Members of the newly launched Cabinet under Prime Minister Taro Aso stressed
their determination Wednesday to press North Korea to resolve the issue of its
past abductions of Japanese nationals and vowed to continue to strengthen
relations with other Asian neighbors.
''I will utilize all occasions to build trust with my counterparts worldwide
and promote (Japan's) diplomacy,'' new Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told
a press conference. ''This includes strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance and
promoting cooperation with neighbors like South Korea and China, while seeking
a comprehensive resolution for the North Korean abduction, nuclear and missile
issues.''
As the first step, Aso and Nakasone will head for New York on Thursday where
the new prime minister will address the U.N. General Assembly to convey Japan's
positions on global issues such as climate change and African development,
while the foreign minister will meet on the sidelines with his U.S. and Chinese
counterparts, Nakasone said.
In particular, Nakasone, 62, emphasized that strengthening relations with China
is of ''great significance'' for Japan, saying, ''I hope to continue to promote
our mutually beneficial strategic relationship and through more frequent
high-level dialogue, not only at the United Nations, to seek to appropriately
resolve pending issues.''
The remarks came as an apparent effort to dismiss concern especially in China
and South Korea that ties could deteriorate under the hawkish new premier, as
compared with his predecessor Yasuo Fukuda who promoted amicable relations with
Asian neighbors.
While stopping short of clearly stating he will not visit the controversial
Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, the minister said he would ''decide appropriately''
in his new capacity as minister whether or not to pay homage there.
The new foreign minister is the son of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone,
who caused a stir in 1985 by visiting the shrine when he was prime minister on
the anniversary of the end of World War II.
On North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, who will concurrently
take charge of the abduction issue, said, ''The abduction issue is a grave one
in terms of our nation's sovereignty as well as the people's safety and is an
unacceptable violation of human rights.''
Assuring the public that the government will work for ''the return of all
abductees as soon as possible,'' Kawamura, 65, told a news conference, ''It is
important for the Cabinet and the nation to work as a whole in tackling this so
that there will be no worries that the process for resolving the abductions is
moving backward.''
However, Aso's decision not to appoint an actual minister to take charge of the
abduction issue -- a post created by his predecessor Fukuda in his Aug. 1
Cabinet reshuffle -- caused dismay among many relatives of the missing
abductees.
''Every time we put our trust in the government, we are betrayed. Are they
going to postpone again in dealing with the abduction issue?'' said Sakie
Yokota, the 72-year-old mother of missing abductee Megumi, who was taken by
North Korean agents in 1977 at the age of 13. ''All I can say is that our
nation has now become a terrible and cruel one.''
''Who are we going to depend on from now on?'' she added, referring to the
removal of Kyoko Nakayama, who has long served as a liaison between the
families and the government on the abduction issue, from the Cabinet post.
Speculation was high in late August that North Korea would finally fulfill a
promise that it made in June to reinvestigate the abduction cases and make
progress on the issue, but such action has yet to be realized since Fukuda
suddenly announced his resignation Sept. 1.
The six-party talks on the denuclearization of North Korea have also stalled
amid tensions between Pyongyang and Washington, with the North terminating the
disablement process at a nuclear complex and removing seals and surveillance
equipment placed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Neither Aso nor Nakasone went into detail on how they plan to mend a rift with
South Korea over Japan's claim to sovereignty over a pair of South Korean-held
islets in the Sea of Japan.
But Nakasone, a senior member of a Japan-South Korea parliamentarians' liaison
group, who was the first Japanese education minister to pay an official visit
to South Korea despite a dispute over the portrayal of wartime history in
Japanese textbooks, underscored his personal connections with foreign leaders
and said he would utilize them in his new capacity as foreign minister.
Regarding China, while relations have warmed significantly over the past two
years under the administrations of Fukuda and his predecessor Shinzo Abe,
including a political agreement in May on joint gas exploration in the disputed
East China Sea, obstacles remain.
The two neighbors have yet to settle their differences over the actual
demarcation of their overlapping exclusive economic zones and details such as a
clear timeline remain to be negotiated. Food safety issues connected to
products imported from China have also agitated public sentiment on both sides.
Following the U.N. General Assembly, other major events on the diplomatic
agenda for Aso and Nakasone include the Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing in
October, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima in November and
the East Asia Summit in Bangkok in December.
Japan also hopes to reschedule by the end of the year a trilateral summit with
China and South Korea, originally planned to be held in Japan in late September
but postponed due to Fukuda's resignation. But some Foreign Ministry officials
have indicated that it would be difficult to realize the meeting due to tight
schedules.