Japan to maintain pressure on North Korea over stalled abductions investigation: officials
After deadlines pass for Pyongyang to report on its 'reinvestigation' into the 1970's and 1980's abductions of Japanese nationals, Tokyo seeks results as soon as posible
Seeing no tangible progress in the new investigation North Korea says it is conducting into Japanese abduction victims launched half a year ago, Tokyo will continue to push Pyongyang to report its findings as soon as possible, according to government officials.
“At present no concrete notification is taking place. We by all means intend to continue requesting the North Korean side to carry out the investigation rapidly and report the findings promptly and honestly,” Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on December 26 in a news conference.
On July 4, North Korea launched a “reinvestigation” into 12 Japanese nationals officially recognised by Tokyo as abduction victims and still missing, in return for the lifting of some of Japan’s unilateral sanctions on Pyongyang – a deal the two governments struck in May during talks in Stockholm.
Japan had expected North Korea’s “special investigation committee” led by So Tae-ha, vice-minister of state security, to make a first report on its probe “sometime from late summer to early autumn,” but nothing was forthcoming.
In late October, Japan sent a mission to Pyongyang and told So, also counsellor for security at the National Defence Commission, the top state organ headed by leader Kim Jong-un, that Tokyo regards the reinvestigation into the abduction victims as “the most important” part of what North Korea billed as a comprehensive investigation into all Japanese residing in the country.
The Japanese mission demanded that North Korea report its findings “as soon as possible”. But Pyongyang apparently did not present information on the abductees by the year-end as called for by Japanese officials including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
With the December 14 election giving a fresh mandate to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has vowed to settle the abduction issue while in office, the government is considering resuming behind-the-scenes negotiations with North Korea in January and holding official talks by around spring at which it is hoped Japan will receive a report on the reinvestigation, according to a government source.
Based on such a scenario, Japan would examine the report by summer, about a year after the launch of the reinvestigation, the source said.
There is general consensus between the two sides that the North’s investigation committee will aim to complete the reinvestigation around summer.
North Korea conducted investigations in 2002 and 2004 into its abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, but Japan rejected the results as unconvincing.
Citing international criticism of North Korea over its human rights record and the chilling of its ties with the United States over a cyberattack against Sony Pictures, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said the North is in a “very severe situation” and “may not have enough energy to push forward diplomacy toward Japan”.
As if to mirror the official’s view, Kim made no reference to Japan-North Korea relations in his New Year’s address on Thursday. Kim called for improved inter-Korean relations, even alluding to a summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, amid heightened tensions with the United States and soured ties with China.
Despite such circumstances, Japanese officials said Tokyo will promote talks with North Korea while retaining the option of re-imposing a part of the sanctions it lifted six months ago.
The abduction issue has prevented Tokyo and Pyongyang from normalising diplomatic relations.
