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 | Thursday, April 27, 2000, updated at 16:08(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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DPRK Expects Talks With Japan to Be FruitfulThe Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that it hopes the ninth-round DPRK- Japan talks on normalization of bilateral relations will "proceed smoothly and make achievements" and that "the thick ice" in bilateral ties will melt.In an editorial, Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, said that the talks, scheduled to be resumed soon after being suspended eight years ago, are expected to "proceed smoothly and make achievements," and "the long-frozen deep ice between the two countries will melt." The editorial also expressed the hope that the two countries will develop a new pattern of friendly ties. "All of this conforms to the aspiration of the two peoples," it said. The Japanese government delegation will arrive here Tuesday to participate in the talks, the editorial said, adding that the negotiations are not resumed for "bickering" and "should never repeat the results of a breakdown as the previous talks did." Seriously discussing the pivotal issue existing between the two countries and settling it are the stance of the DPRK at the talks, it said. The newspaper said the pivotal issue is the settling of the historical account with Japan and the resolution to it is "a shortcut to the normalization of bilateral relations and a basic and main topic for the DPRK-Japan talks." "Once the issue is resolved, all other problems will be settled easily," it said. "Otherwise, the current abnormal ties between the two sides will never change whensoever." The editorial stressed that a good atmosphere should be created and both sides should make efforts to prevent the talks from derailing. The DPRK and Japan began their normalization talks in the late 1980s, with eight rounds of talks held before they were suspended in 1992.
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