North Korea accused Japan yesterday of breaking promises and trying to "stifle" it with the threat of economic sanctions as officials from the two nations ended talks apparently no closer to breaking a deadlock over the families of Japanese citizens once held captive by the communist nation.
The remarks were carried by North Korean state media shortly after a delegation of senior Japanese Foreign Ministry officials wrapped up a surprise four-day visit to Pyongyang that was viewed by some analysts as a potential first step by North Korea toward resolving an emotional bilateral dispute ahead of US-led multilateral talks in Beijing this month on its nuclear weapons program.
An unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman quoted yesterday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency also warned Japan not to bring up the issue of the abductees at the Beijing talks.
Its typically vitriolic state media made similar warnings before a first round of multilateral discussions on the nuclear crisis last August in the Chinese capital, but officials from the two nations still met on the sidelines.
Japanese government spokesmen could not be reached yesterday afternoon for comment on the meetings in Pyongyang, but media reports here suggested the two sides basically restated old positions and could agree only to continue talks at an unspecified date.
Japan has pressed North Korea for more than a year to hand over relatives of five Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean spies in the 1970s and released in October 2002 following a landmark summit meeting that was supposed to lay the groundwork for a reconciliation between the estranged nations.
North Korea has refused, saying Japan reneged on a promise to send back the five former abductees.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman quoted yesterday by KCNA accused Japan of holding the five hostage.
North Korean officials told their Japanese counterparts the "detention of five Japanese abductees in Japan by the Japanese side" was "in breach of the promise it had made," the spokesman said.
His comments echoed reports by Japanese media saying an aide to Kim Jong Il had demanded that the five be "temporarily" returned to North Korea before it would discuss custody of members of their families -- seven North Korean-born children and one spouse -- who were left behind.
North Korea also vowed to "resolutely shut out Japan's participation" in the Beijing talks if it attempts to raise the abduction issue, KCNA said, without elaborating.
The tug-of-war over the families and subsequent revelations about North Korea's covert efforts to develop nuclear weapons has increased pressure on the Japanese government to consider sanctions.
This month Japanese lawmakers overwhelming approved a new law that makes it easier for authorities to freeze assets and restrict trade, though Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said it is too early to exercise that option.
North Korea accused Japan at the talks of "persistently resorting to its moves to stifle [North Korea] by legislating on applying sanctions," KCNA reported.
The Japanese delegation, led by led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka, was scheduled to return to Tokyo on yesterday night and brief Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.
Japan is also demanding more information about eight other Japanese citizens who North Korea said died in captivity, and two others whose fates are unknown.
North Korea has acknowledged its spies kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to steal their identities and master their language.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
STEADFAST DART: The six-week exercise, which involves about 10,000 troops from nine nations, focuses on rapid deployment scenarios and multidomain operations NATO is testing its ability to rapidly deploy across eastern Europe — without direct US assistance — as Washington shifts its approach toward European defense and the war in Ukraine. The six-week Steadfast Dart 2025 exercises across Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are taking place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark. They involve about 10,000 troops from nine nations and represent the largest NATO operation planned this year. The US absence from the exercises comes as European nations scramble to build greater military self-sufficiency over their concerns about the commitment of US President Donald Trump’s administration to common defense and
RSS