hankyoreh

BEIJING, TOKYO - President Roh Moo-hyun will reportedly bring up the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea during the second upcoming inter-Korean summit, which will begin tomorrow and continue through October 4.

During a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Song Min-soon, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura urged North Korea to return all of the Japanese abductees. According to the Japanese media, Komura expressed his expectation that Japan-North Korea relations would develop dramatically if the abductee issue were to be resolved. “Our nation will not hinder resolution of North Korea’s nuclear weapons problem using the abductee problem,” added the foreign minister.

Prior to the foreign minister’s statement, newly-elected Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda conveyed his expectations for the forthcoming inter-Korean summit in a telephone conversation with Roh, saying Japan hopes that Roh will raise the abductee issue during the summit.

Such a positive mood has also been confirmed at the six-party talks, which entered into a two-day recess in Beijing on Sunday. At a 45-minute bilateral talk in Beijing on September 28, Pyongyang and Tokyo agreed to the basic position that the two nations will cooperate to solve their mutual concerns based on the results of working-group negotiations between the two sides, said Kenichiro Sasae, Japan’s envoy.

A Japanese official remarked that Japan and North Korea exchanged their opinions sincerely and frankly. The bilateral agreement shows that Japan might have a changed stance toward North Korea. Japan declined sending economic aid to North Korea, which had been agreed upon as part of the six-party agreement reached on February 13 of this year, due to the abductee issue. In this context, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japan is considering a plan to share the costs of disabling the North’s nuclear facilities if North Korea agrees on the next step in the process.

President Roh has probably decided to discuss the abductee issue during the summit in consideration of the importance of mutual cooperation in the recovery of South Korea-Japan relations and improvement of North Korea-Japan relations. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is also expected to take a positive position on the matter.

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