Roundup: DPRK-Japan Summit Brightens Normalization Prospect

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Roundup: DPRK-Japan Summit Brightens Normalization Prospect

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan have opened a new page in their history of relations as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and DPRK leader Kim Jong Il made breakthroughs on a number of thorny issues during their historic one-day summit on Tuesday.

The two leaders agreed to resume negotiations toward establishing diplomatic ties after Koizumi, the first Japanese prime minister to visit the DPRK, admitted the historical facts concerning Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula and apologized for atrocities, while Kim ended years of denial and admitted 11 Japanese were abducted by DPRK agents.

By softening their stances, both sides have removed the two main hurdles that used to hinder their normalization talks. Koizumi expressed "deep remorse and sincere apology" for the damage and sufferings inflicted upon the Korean people by the Japanese colonial rule and promised to compensate them by extending economic cooperation, including providing grants and long-term low-rate loans.

In return, Kim confirmed the whereabouts of the 11 missing Japanese nationals, regretted for the abductions and said those responsible for the incidents would be punished. Out of the 11, four are alive and the DPRK arranged a meeting between them and Japanese foreign ministry officials. Kim promised that the four would meet their family and return to Japan temporarily or forever.

The positive outcome of the landmark summit provides an important impetus for resuming negotiations on normalizing ties which were suspended in October 2000.

The summit not only settled the thorny issues, but also defined the basic framework and objectives for the future development of the relations between the two countries.

At the end of their summit, Kim and Koizumi issued the Pyongyang Declaration which said that the DPRK and Japan will establish fruitful political, economic and cultural relations to realize normalization. For that, the two sides agreed to sincerely address all issues in the course of normalizing the ties in the spirit of mutual trust.

From 1991 to October 2000, the DPRK and Japan held 11 rounds of normalization talks, but produced no substantial results due to huge differences over the fate of the 11 missing Japanese and the DPRK's demand for a Japanese apology and compensation for its harsh colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

With the removal of the two hurdles, the way for the two countries to improve and normalize bilateral relations has thus been paved. As long as both sides continue to enhance mutual trust in their future contacts, their objective of normalizing relations should be able to be achieved.

Not only so, the improvement and normalization of DPRK-Japan relations as well as the DPRK's pledge to continue freezing missile tests beyond the year 2003 will have an positive impact on the DPRK-US relations and on the relations between the two sides of the Korean Peninsula. These all together would contribute to easing tensions and improving peace and stability in the entire Northeast Asian region.

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