In 6-party talks, participants look to Japan to practice restraint

Posted on : 2007-02-09 14:46 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Tokyo’s hard-line stance toward Pyongyang seen as possible barrier to agreement

According to many familiar with the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program, if Japan continues to act as a maverick, the negotiations will face difficulty.

Such worries come as the nations involved in the talks - the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia, and China - resume their negotiations to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.

While the U.S. and North Korea are reportedly fine-tuning a "first-step agreement" to implement the September 19, 2005 joint statement in which North Korea pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid, Japan has insisted on linking the resolution of the North’s abduction of several of its citizens to the issue of energy aid. On February 5, when Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy for the six-party talks, visited Japan last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a press conference that unless North Korea takes a sincere approach to the abduction issue, Japan will not give anything in return, referring transparently to energy aid for the impoverished communist nation.

Negotiators from the six-party talks have accused Japan of sticking dogmatically to its hard-line policy against North Korea. On February 7 in Beijing, Hill said that the success of the six-party talks depends on all six nations, perhaps referring to the need for Japan’s cooperation in bringing about a resolution to the three-year-running North Korea nuclear issue.

This is a sea change from the days when the U.S.’s only comments about the talks were aimed at North Korea’s stance. In addition, Hill held three days intense consultations with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo just before he arrived in Beijing. In another change, the U.S and Japanese delegations, save for once in 2005, have stayed at the same accomodations in Beijing during the talks, but during the past two consecutive sets of negotiations, they have stayed in separate hotels.

South Korea’s top negotiator Chun Young-woo said, "The moment of truth is coming...The five nations besides North Korea should not be lukewarm about taking reasonable action." Chun’s remark was also aimed at Japan, in this case nudging it to participate in a program that would grant the North heavy oil aid in exchange for Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, North Korea and Japan have been wrangling over the abduction issue, which has stifled dialogue between the two countries. In December last year, North Korea said it would be better if Japan did not attend the six-party talks. In addition, during December’s six-party talks, at which no progress on the North Korea’s nuclear program was made, the North held bilateral talks with all other nations attending, except for Japan. This stands in contrast with the time around when the September 19, 2005 joint agreement was signed by all six nations, during which Pyongyang and Tokyo had been holding frequent bilateral meetings. Those following the talks say that whether the North and Japan hold bilateral talks during this round could be an indicator as to whether there will be any headway.

"It will be difficult for Japan to become a maverick because all parties want an agreement forged," said an official who is part of the South Korean negotiation team to the six-party talks.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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