North Korea and Japan will hold talks next month but the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s will not be discussed, a high-ranking North Korean official has told Kyodo News Agency
In its Pyongyang datelined report, Kyodo quoted Jong Thae-hwa as saying that the kidnapping issue has been fully settled and the communist state no longer intends to provide any proof or respond to investigation requests.
Foreign Ministry officials were not available for comment Friday, a national holiday in Japan.
Earlier this week, Japan's foreign minister said the two countries will resume bilateral talks soon on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, missile programs and the kidnapping issue, to restart negotiations stalled for nearly a year.
The last substantial talks between the two sides took place in November last year. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in May last year in Pyongyang.
The North has admitted to abducting 13 Japanese to train its spies in Japanese language and culture. Pyongyang allowed five to return to Japan in 2002, saying the remaining eight had died.
Tokyo, however, has demanded proof of the deaths, as well as a thorough investigation into claims that other Japanese were also abducted. North Korea has indicated it considers the issue a closed case.
Family members of those abducted urged Japan to be tough in pushing for answers and called for economic sanctions against the communist country if it didn't sufficiently cooperate.
Jong, a former negotiator in talks with Japan, said the outstanding issue between the two countries was not kidnapping, but Japan's failure to fully atone for past atrocities, including forced labor and sex slaves during its harsh colonization of the Korean Peninsula, according to Kyodo. Japan colonized the Koreas from 1910 until the end of World War II.
Jong repeated Pyongyang's demand that Tokyo return what the North says are the remains of Megumi Yokota, the highest profile kidnap victim, according to Kyodo.
North Korea sent the remains to Japan in November last year after admitting to kidnapping her decades ago, but Japan said DNA tests proved it was not Yokota. Pyongyang then accused Tokyo of fabricating the results to disgrace the North and has demanded the return of the remains.
Japan and North Korea committed to press toward establishing diplomatic relations in a joint declaration during an earlier Koizumi-Kim summit in Pyongyang in 2002. Sporadic talks toward normalization have stalled, however, over the abductions issue. The two countries have never had diplomatic relations.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS