Abe adviser calls for deadline to resolve N. Korea abductions

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s adviser, when visiting North Korea last week, called for setting a “deadline” in bilateral talks aimed at resolving the thorny issue of the abductions of Japanese nationals, sources close to bilateral ties said Friday.

The new details shed more light on the meetings between the adviser, Isao Iijima, and senior North Korean officials that took place during his four-day unannounced but widely reported trip to the North Korean capital from May 14.

The North Korean side, for its part, demanded that Japan lift its original sanctions imposed on North Korea and asked it to allow the Tokyo headquarters of Chongryon, also known as the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, to continue to use its premises without a sale, according to the sources.

The Chongryon headquarters, whose premises are now subject to a foreclosure sale, serve as Pyongyang’s de facto diplomatic mission in Japan. North Korea is thought to be desperate to keep the building.

The North Korean side replied to Iijima that it would convey the Japanese intention to young leader Kim Jong Un. But it remains unclear whether Pyongyang is ready to change its long-held position that the abduction issue has already been resolved, the sources added.

The exchange is still expected to spur bargaining from both sides toward the resumption of governmental talks aimed at resolving the abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, an issue that has become a major obstacle for the two countries in normalizing diplomatic ties.

Bilateral talks have been suspended since North Korea’s announcement in early December of a satellite launch prompted Tokyo to postpone a planned meeting between senior diplomats of the two countries in Beijing shortly afterward.

Iijima called for a deadline in meetings with Kim Yong Il, a secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea who doubles as director of the party’s International Department, and Song Il Ho, ambassador for talks to normalize relations with Japan, according to the sources.

The setting of a deadline for talks on the abduction issue fits in with Abe’s pledge to resolve the matter while he is prime minister.

Present in a separate meeting between Iijima and North Korea’s No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s parliament, was an official in charge of Chongryon at the Workers’ Party’s intelligence arm, the sources said. The continued use of the Chongryon building is believed to have been discussed during the meeting.

Kyodo News has already reported that in the series of meetings in Pyongyang, Iijima demanded that North Korea return all Japanese abduction victims and hand over their abductors.

Kyodo has also said the Abe adviser urged Pyongyang to return all the Japanese suspected of being kidnapped by its agents — in addition to those officially recognized by Tokyo as abductees — while conveying to North Korea Japan’s intention to comprehensively resolve the abduction, nuclear and missile issues.

Japan began imposing its original sanctions on North Korea after the latter launched ballistic missiles in July 2006. Under the sanctions, all exports to and imports from North Korea have been banned, and senior Chongryon officials are banned from reentering Japan.

The land and building used for the Chongryon headquarters have been foreclosed following the failure of an affiliated financial institution. Eviction from the building could happen, depending on how the matter evolves.

Iijima was the top aide to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In 2002 and 2004, he accompanied Koizumi to Pyongyang for talks with then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The September 2002 talks led to the return to Japan of five abductees the following month.

Japan has been calling for the return of other Japanese abductees, including Megumi Yokota, who was abducted in 1977 at age 13 and has become a symbolic victim of North Korean abductions.

Kyodo News, May 25, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130525p2g00m0dm002000c.html

 Noda aide visited North on sly to break impasse

A secret mission to Pyongyang last fall by a close aide of then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda led to Japan-North Korea talks being held in Mongolia in mid-November amid disagreements over the abduction issue, a source said.

During the mission, which lasted from late October until early November, the aide met with senior North Korean officials and Pyongyang indicated its willingness to set up a joint investigation panel to look into the fate of Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the source.

The aide, who was connected to the then-ruling Democratic Party of Japan, apparently exchanged opinions with the North Korean side on the return to Japan of Japanese nationals who could possibly be alive in North Korea, including abductees.

The aide’s secret visit to North Korea as Noda’s de facto envoy led to talks between senior diplomats of the two countries in Ulan Bator in mid-November.

There is a possibility that Isao Iijima, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s adviser who made an unannounced visit to Pyongyang last week, may have based his meetings with North Korean officials on the talks the Noda aide had.

The establishment of a joint investigation panel was proposed by Japan during bilateral consultations in February 2004 after Tokyo concluded it would be difficult for Pyongyang to get to the bottom of the abduction issue alone.

Abe, who was secretary general of the then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party at that time, took a negative stance toward the proposal on grounds that North Korea masterminded the abductions.

It remains to be seen, therefore, how Abe, who succeeded Noda as prime minister in late December and has vowed to finally settle the issue during his time in office, will approach the idea of a joint investigative panel this time around.

Acting on Noda’s wishes, the aide apparently proposed a way to settle the auctioning off of premises in Tokyo that housed the headquarters of Chongryon, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, which serves as Pyongyang’s de facto diplomatic mission in Japan.

Among the North Korean officials the aide met with in Pyongyang were Song Il Ho, ambassador for talks to normalize relations with Japan, and the country’s No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, who is president of the Presidium of the Supreme PeopleÅfs Assembly, North Korea’s legislature.

Although the two countries were expected to confirm through official governmental channels what had been agreed upon during the trip by Noda aide, bilateral talks were suspended after Japan notified North Korea in early December the talks would be postponed following Pyongyang’s launch of a long-range rocket.

Kyodo News, May 25, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/25/national/noda-aide-visited-north-on-sly-to-break-impasse/#.UaL4qtiz640