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Japan, DPRK Resume Normalization Talks
After a one-day break, negotiators from Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) resumed their second round of talks on normalizing diplomatic ties Thursday morning in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.
Ambassador Jong Thae Hwa, head of the DPRK delegation, and Japanese chief negotiator Ambassador Kojiro Takano agreed to discuss the settling of the past as they began their second day of discussions, the Kyodo news reported.
One focal point at the final-day session of their two-day second round of talks is whether the two sides can narrow their differences on long-standing contentious issues over which they remained apart at their first day of talks in Tokyo Tuesday - the alleged abduction of Japanese nationals by DPRK agents in the 1970s and the 1980s and compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The two countries clashed over the two issues when they held the first round of negotiations on normalizing ties in April in Pyongyang.
On Tuesday, chief negotiators of both sides reaffirmed their commitment to normalizing ties but maintained their basic positions on the two issues.
The two sides intend to discuss individual issues in more detail at the meeting in Kisarazu, but are unlikely to achieve a breakthrough, a Japanese government official said.
Japanese officials have expressed the hope that the talks will lay the groundwork for a third round during which the two sides are expected to begin substantial negotiations.
The next session is expected to take place in October in Beijing or another city in a third country.
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