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Japan, DPRK Fail to Narrow Rifts on Key Issues
Negotiators from Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) failed to narrow their differences Tuesday on lingering disputes at the end of the first day of their second round of talks in Tokyo on normalizing diplomatic ties.
The two sides remained apart over two key issues left over from past talks -- the alleged abduction of at least 10 Japanese nationals by DPRK agents in the 1970s and 1980s and compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, the Kyodo news agency said.
The two sides maintained their "basic positions" over the two issues, on which they clashed during the first round of negotiations held in April in Pyongyang, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying.
The April meeting marked a resumption of the two countries' normalization talks which collapsed in 1992 after eight rounds.
Nevertheless, the negotiators reaffirmed their commitment to "normalizing the abnormal ties...and establishing new good neighborly and friendly relations before the 21st century to avoid leaving problems unresolved to the next generation," the official said.
The official said the two sides refrained from any substantial talks in the approximately 60-minute first-day session, leaving them to the next plenary negotiations on Thursday in Kisarazu in the adjacent prefecture of Chiba after a one-day break Wednesday.
Ambassador Jong Thae Hwa, who heads the DPRK delegation, stressed that his country "has not changed at all its position of taking up liquidation of the past as a priority issue," according to the official.
Meanwhile, Kojiro Takano, who leads the Japanese side as ambassador in charge of the normalization talks, alluded to Japan's priority issues such as the alleged abductions of Japanese nationals. The DPRK denied that it had kidnapped any Japanese.
Japanese officials said the two sides are unlikely to achieve a breakthrough this time, but hope to lay the groundwork for the third round during which the two sides intend to begin substantial negotiations.
The next session is expected to take place in October in Beijing or another city in a third country.
The DPRK delegation, which arrived in Japan Monday, is scheduled to head home on Friday morning.
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