ID :
34582
Tue, 12/09/2008 - 14:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/34582
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea challenges Japan's qualification in 6-way talks+
BEIJING, Dec. 8 Kyodo - North Korea challenged Japan's qualification to attend the six-party talks on denuclearizing Pyongyang on Monday, telling a meeting in Beijing of chief
delegates to the multilateral framework that Tokyo has not joined other countries in providing energy aid in exchange for its denuclearization steps, a Japanese official said.
Top Japanese envoy Akitaka Saiki downplayed the rhetoric and said that progress
in the long-standing bilateral problem of past abductions of Japanese citizens
to North Korea should come before the aid, and other participants backed the
position, the official said.
''Japan has not joined the economic and energy aid project. We need to discuss
whether Japan is qualified to take part in the six-nation talks,'' North Korean
chief delegate Kim Kye Gwan was quoted by the official as saying at the six-way
talks which began Monday.
Kim also pressed his case over the position shown by his country in a recent
statement which says North Korea ''will neither treat Japan as a party to the
talks nor deal with it.''
Saiki told reporters after Monday's talks that he said at the multilateral
session in reference to the lack of progress on the abduction problem, ''There
is no change in our position that we are ready to join the economic and energy
aid project if the environment is set. But to our regret, North Korea has not
dealt with a matter of Japanese concern.''
The six-nation process also involving China, South Korea, Russia and the United
States has struck a deal promising energy aid worth 1 million tons of fuel oil
in return for North Korea's disabling its key nuclear facilities. Japan is the
only country in the talks that has yet to join the aid project.
Japan and North Korea have clashed over the abduction issue and long-standing
disputes over the bilateral problem have been an obstacle to normalizing ties.
Japan claims at least 17 citizens, including a 13-year-old girl, were abducted
to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s and has urged North Korea to clearly
account for the cases.
North Korea has let five of the 17 abductees and their kin return to Japan but
failed to cooperate further, basically saying the problem has already been
settled.
Pyongyang agreed with Tokyo earlier this year to reinvestigate the abduction
cases, but has not yet begun doing so.
==Kyodo
2008-12-08 23:28:52
delegates to the multilateral framework that Tokyo has not joined other countries in providing energy aid in exchange for its denuclearization steps, a Japanese official said.
Top Japanese envoy Akitaka Saiki downplayed the rhetoric and said that progress
in the long-standing bilateral problem of past abductions of Japanese citizens
to North Korea should come before the aid, and other participants backed the
position, the official said.
''Japan has not joined the economic and energy aid project. We need to discuss
whether Japan is qualified to take part in the six-nation talks,'' North Korean
chief delegate Kim Kye Gwan was quoted by the official as saying at the six-way
talks which began Monday.
Kim also pressed his case over the position shown by his country in a recent
statement which says North Korea ''will neither treat Japan as a party to the
talks nor deal with it.''
Saiki told reporters after Monday's talks that he said at the multilateral
session in reference to the lack of progress on the abduction problem, ''There
is no change in our position that we are ready to join the economic and energy
aid project if the environment is set. But to our regret, North Korea has not
dealt with a matter of Japanese concern.''
The six-nation process also involving China, South Korea, Russia and the United
States has struck a deal promising energy aid worth 1 million tons of fuel oil
in return for North Korea's disabling its key nuclear facilities. Japan is the
only country in the talks that has yet to join the aid project.
Japan and North Korea have clashed over the abduction issue and long-standing
disputes over the bilateral problem have been an obstacle to normalizing ties.
Japan claims at least 17 citizens, including a 13-year-old girl, were abducted
to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s and has urged North Korea to clearly
account for the cases.
North Korea has let five of the 17 abductees and their kin return to Japan but
failed to cooperate further, basically saying the problem has already been
settled.
Pyongyang agreed with Tokyo earlier this year to reinvestigate the abduction
cases, but has not yet begun doing so.
==Kyodo
2008-12-08 23:28:52
