North Korea and Japan will enter their second round of talks today at the North Korean embassy in Beijing, where they are expected to continue discussions on the return of a number
of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the regime as far back as the 1970s.
The two countries, meeting yesterday for the first time in over a year, are represented by North Korean envoy to Japan Song Il Ho, and chief of the Japanese foreign ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Junichi Ihara.
According to the Sankei Shimbun, Japan is
expected to raise the possibility of family members of the abductees travelling north to collect the remains of their deceased relatives.
Japan has long maintained the position that the issue of kidnappings
must be addressed before it considers easing its strict economic sanctions against the North.
On the 18th, state minister in charge of the
abduction issue Keiji Furuya further announced the North will be denied aid
until all kidnapping victims are returned home.
Japan is second only to South Korea in the number of
citizens known to be kidnapped by the regime. They
are currently demanding the return of 12 nationals including Megumi Yokota, a
13-year-old schoolgirl who was kidnapped on her way home from school in
1977.
North Korea insists that eight of the 12, including Megumi,
have since passed away. The remaining
four citizens never entered the country, they further claim.
