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Wide Gaps Remain in Japan-DPRK Talks, Mori Says
Japan and DPRK still have deep differences to overcome before they can normalize diplomatic ties, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said on Thursday.
"There still appear to be some wide gaps," Mori said en route to Singapore, where he will attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus Japan, South Korea and China from Friday. "But I hope we will be able to proceed forward step by step toward closing those gaps," he added. The latest round of long-running talks between the two nations, held in Beijing last month, ended with hints of progress despite a diplomatic blunder by Mori days earlier.
Mori is to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and South Korean President Kim for trilateral discussions on Friday on the sidelines of the larger summit. Japanese officials said the topics had yet to be firmly decided but DPRK was unlikely to loom large on the agenda.
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