How does North Korea feel about the summit talk of President Bush and Prime Minister Abe?<\/p>\n
The recent summit talks between the U.S. and Japan ended with confirmation that the two parties did indeed have strong relations. Japan reaffirmed that it would not remove North Korea from the list of terror nations, until the abductees issue was resolved. This undeniably would have made Kim Jong Il squirm in his seat.<\/p>\n
Amidst these circumstances, North Korea gives a strange response. <\/p>\n
The Chosun Shinbo, the newspaper organized by the pro-North Korea Jochongryon (General Association of North Korean Residents in Japan) mentioned on the 28th, \u201cThere are ways to place Japan in a dilemma even without mobilizing troops\u201d and gave the example \u201cFor instance, rapidly advancing the six party talks will break the Abe Administration\u2019s hard-line policy.\u201d <\/p>\n
The newspaper reported, \u201cIt is highly wrong to think that Chosun (North Korea) will take a conciliatory attitude.\u201d and \u201cU.S. decision to conduct talks with \u2018Chosun\u2019 who has enforced nuclear tests is just as impossible as it is return to claims made by Chosun regarding the abductees issue.\u201d Further, the newspaper emphasized that \u201cChosun is not a country that likes to boast.\u201d<\/p>\n
These comments come at a time when North Korea attempts to extend the Feb. 13 Agreements while gaining its funds back from BDA which is expected to be resolved within the next week. <\/p>\n
Further, regarding North Korea\u2019s funds and BDA, China\u2019s deputy foreign minister Wu Dawei, who is also acting as the representative for the six party talks said, \u201cThe Macau government is considering ways to purchase BDA\u201d reported the Tokyo Shinbun on the 29th. <\/p>\n
While BDA is denied any transactions with other financial institutions, it seems that the Macau government is trying to remove the sanctions by purchasing BDA. If the Macau government does gain control of BDA, then there is a possibility that North Korea\u2019s funds owed to the respective 50 account holders will be made in one lump payment.<\/p>\n
Undeniably, the BDA issue will not be solved so easily taking into account that North Korea\u2019s underlying motive is not to withdraw the $25mn but for the ability to conduct normal transactions with foreign partners. Nonetheless as criticisms arise amongst the international community regarding North Korea\u2019s non-implementation of the Feb 13 Agreement, it is unlikely that North Korea will be able to maintain its idleness for long. <\/p>\n
Retrospectively, the North Korean director of atomic affairs, Lee Je Sun sent a letter to the director general of the IAEA on the 20th which stated, \u201cWe will invite IAEA inspectors immediately after it is confirmed that the frozen accounts in BDA have been released.\u201d The letter suggested that the six party talks will be positively affected with the implementation of the preliminary measures such as the disablement of nuclear facilities at Yongbyun once the BDA issue was resolved. <\/p>\n
Once the Feb. 13 Agreement is fulfilled, the next step is to reopen the six party talks for discussions on the \u201cnormalization of U.S.-North Korea relations working group\u201d which will includes topics voiding North Korea as a terror nation and removing sanctions enabling North Korea to engage in normal trade.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, North Korea may make great efforts at building an alliance with the U.S. and then use this advantage to request that Japan step down from its hard-line policy and make resolutions regarding the abductees\u2019 issue. However, Japan-North Korea relations are at its worse ever with North Korea marking Japan as \u201cWhoi Nara\u201d which means the Jap\u2019s state in its media. Further, an order was made in North Korea to \u201cremove all Japanese products from Pyongyang and every other city within 3 years.\u201d <\/p>\n
Likewise, the \u201cforced drive\u201d against North Korea continues in Japan. The Japanese police have begun to seize and carry investigations on the home of a 55 year old woman in Tokyo who was once related to 2 missing persons of North Korean descent on April 25th 1973 as well as interrogate the underground organization Jochongryon, which is known to be located in 4 areas of Japan. <\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, Japan is the speck in North Korea\u2019s eye who continues to place economic sanctions without even providing aid. Prior to the Feb. 13 Agreement, North Korea made comments that, \u201cThe effectiveness of the six party talks will be greater if Japan does not participate.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, it is possible that North Korea will implement the Feb. 13 Agreement creating a \u201cpeace mood,\u201d while pushing for speedy progress to the six party talks based on U.S. and North Korea and at the same time isolate Japan. Hence the comments that \u201crapidly advancing the six party talks will break the Abe Administration\u2019s hard-line policy\u201d cannot be completely ignored. <\/p>\n
In the end, the problem is BDA and North Korea\u2019s accounts. Hence, the focus remains on the results of the BDA issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How does North Korea feel about the summit talk of President Bush and Prime Minister Abe? The recent summit talks between the U.S. and Japan ended with confirmation that the two parties did indeed have strong relations. Japan reaffirmed that it would not remove North Korea from the list of terror nations, until the abductees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":4041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n