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Japan is eyeing unofficial talks with North Korea when government officials from the two
countries attend a meeting of their respective Red Cross societies in northeastern China
later on this Monday. It's believed government officials from the
two sides will discuss the possible repatriation of Japanese nationals abducted by the North.
Connie Kim reports. Red Cross talks between North Korea and Japan will kick off Monday
morning in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.
The talks, the first since November 2012, will focus on the repatriation of the remains
of Japanese nationals who died in North Korea during World War 2.
The three-day talks 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. However, with Keiichi Ono, director of the
Northeast Asia Division of the Japanese Foreign Ministry and Ryu Song-Il, chief of the Japanese
affairs section at the North Korean Foreign Ministry also attending the Red Cross Meeting,
there is speculation the two sides may 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 but 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
maintaining its stance of urging Tokyo to compensate for the suffering of the Korean
people during Japan's colonization of the Korean peninsula.
In what could be a first step toward resuming full-blown, official talks between North Korea
and Japan, eyes are focused on whether the Red Cross talks will lead to formal bilateral
talks between the two governments. Back in 2012, the first government-level talks
between the two countries were held in four years after similar Red Cross talks...but
follow-up talks were scrapped after North Korea launched a long-range rocket.
Connie Kim, Arirang News.