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Red Cross representatives of North Korea and Japan have started a round of working-level
talks in northeastern China on this Monday. Government officials from the two sides,...
who are also taking part in the meeting,... are likely to discuss the possible repatriation
of Japanese nationals abducted by the North. Our Connie Kim reports.
North Korea and Japan kicked off their Red Cross talks Monday morning in the northeastern
Chinese city of Shenyang ... the first such meeting since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took
office in late 2012. The three-day talks will focus on the repatriation
of the remains of Japanese nationals who died in North Korea during World War 2.
The discussions, proposed by the North, will be led by Ri Ho Rim, secretary general of
the North's Red Cross Society and Osamu Tasaka, director general of the International Department
at the Japanese Red Cross. Also, with top senior diplomats from both
foreign ministries attending the Red Cross Meeting, there is speculation Japan wants to talk about Pyongyang
repatriating Japanese abductees still alive in the North.
The Japanese government lists 17 nationals it believes were abducted by North Korea in
the 1970s and 80s. Tokyo, however, suspects Pyongyang may have
kidnapped more Japanese nationals. Five abductees were repatriated to Japan in
2002.
Japan has been requesting North Korea reinvestigate where the abductees are, and North Korea is
continuing to urge Tokyo to compensate for the suffering of the Korean people during
Japan's brutal colonization of the Korean peninsula in the early to mid 20th century.
"The Japanese government will address current outstanding bilateral issues including the
abduction of Japanese nationals and will attempt to bring a proactive attitude out of North
Korea."
In what could be a first step toward resuming full-blown, official discussions between North
Korea and Japan, eyes are focused on whether the Red Cross meetings will lead to formal
bilateral talks between the two governments. Back in 2012, the first government-level meeting
between the two countries was held in four years after similar Red Cross discussions...but
follow-up talks were scrapped after North Korea launched a long-range rocket.
Connie Kim, Arirang News.