Japan, North Korea to resume talks on ties next month
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-27 13:58

Uneasy neighbours Japan and North Korea will hold talks in Beijing from February 4 on normalising diplomatic ties, the first such discussions since October 2002, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said on Friday.

The two sides will make another attempt to clear the air over Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago to help train spies, and they will also discuss Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes, which the west wants to see dismantled.

"Through these comprehensive talks, we will aim at an overall improvement in Japan-North Korea ties," Abe told a news conference, adding that resolving the abductees row was a priority.

The agreement to resume discussions comes amid efforts to reconvene six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programme, which have been derailed by a standoff between Washington and Pyongyang.

Analysts said Pyongyang may be keen to improve ties with Tokyo before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose term is expected to end in September, steps down.

Koizumi has twice held summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and has said repeatedly that wants to establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang before he leaves office.

"North Korea wants to normalise diplomatic ties with Japan while Prime Minister Koizumi is in office," said Yasuhiko Yoshida, a professor at the Osaka University of Economics.

North Korea is keen to get Japanese aid for its struggling economy, Yoshida added.

However, few analysts expect a breakthrough in Beijing.

"Japan-North Korea talks would not move forward as long as the six-party talks are stalled," said Noriyuki Suzuki, a chief analyst at the Tokyo-based Radiopress news agency, which specialises in monitoring North Korean media.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Reuters on Thursday that Washington was ready to immediately resume the six-country talks as long as Pyongyang did not impose conditions.

The talks bring together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.

But she also said North Korea must address U.S. concerns over illicit financial dealings. Pyongyang has said it would be unthinkable to return to the six-party talks while Washington imposed what amounted to "financial sanctions".

Japan and North Korea are locked in a bitter dispute over North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Korea has admitted abducting 13 people, eight of whom it says are dead. Pyongyang has said the abductee issue is settled, but Tokyo wants more information about the eight and another three it says were also kidnapped.

Japan has said it would not normalise ties with North Korea unless the abduction issue was resolved. Talks on establishing diplomatic ties were last held in October 2002 in Kuala Lumpur.

North Korea is expected to press for the settlement of issues stemming from Japan's harsh 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula. Tokyo has rejected Pyongyang's demand for reparations but agreed to discuss Japanese aid for North Korea later.