Japan to keep working with U.S. on N. Korea abductions: FM Nakasone

TOKYO, Oct. 12 Kyodo -
Japan will continue to work closely with the United States and others to seek
progress in resolving the issue of North Korea's past abductions of Japanese
nationals, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Sunday in response
to Washington's removal of Pyongyang from its list of terrorism-sponsoring
states.
''Japan will do its utmost, in close cooperation with the United States and
other countries concerned, to push forward Japan-North Korea relations,
including the abduction issue, alongside the nuclear issue,'' Nakasone said in
a statement.
The minister also expressed hopes of cooperating with other members of the
six-party talks to adopt an agreement at an early date on the specifics of a
protocol for verifying North Korea's nuclear programs and facilities based on a
deal reached between the United States and North Korea.
''Japan believes that in order to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which is
the goal of the six-party talks, it is extremely important to build a concrete
framework for effective verification,'' Nakasone said.
Tokyo had urged the United States to refrain from taking North Korea off the
list of terrorist-sponsoring states until progress is made on the issue of the
abductions of Japanese by Pyongyang's agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
North Korea has yet to act on its promise to launch a committee to
reinvestigate the abductions. But the United States announced Saturday its
removal of North Korea from the list for the first time in 20 years in light of
progress on the denuclearization process.
Nakasone noted in the statement that U.S. President George W. Bush expressed to
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in a phone call prior to the announcement his
understanding of the strong concerns among the Japanese public and his sympathy
with the families of the missing abductees.
The six-party nuclear talks involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States.
==Kyodo