Japan's abduction strategy baffles counterparts at 6-party NK talks

Sunday 13th July, 04:08 AM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

Latest 15 of 95 Total Comments Show All

smithinjapan at 05:13 PM JST - 17th July

JoeBigs: "Sad thing is that Japan seems to be the only nation that is looking to help their citizens."

Nope... sad thing is that Japan evidently only gives a rat's a$$ about a FEW citizens, while it would seemingly rather have the rest nuked by North Korea by continually deviating from what the actual issue on the table is.
JoeBigs at 11:54 AM JST - 18th July

Zen_Builder at 09:36 AM JST - 17th July Call me a fool. But I think the 2 koreas should be combined and a LOT of the current problems will go away.

I agree, let the two Korea`s unite into one big happy happy family. We could have Kim as supreme leader and Lee as his boot licker. Lee is already used to that role already so it wont hurt.....

Imagine the peace and happiness all Koreans would feel starving together!

The joy of it all....

As I have always said, to hell with Kim and his backers until the HOSTAGES are released!
shmave at 12:52 PM JST - 18th July

Three of the five abductees that were returned to Japan several years ago and the US Army deserter said that they witnessed abductees from several different countries. Not only from Japan and South Korea. Italy and Thailand are the two that I remember the most but there were a few other countries mentioned.

I agree with Japan not wanting to aid NK. The only ones that would benefit from it would most likely be Kim Jong Il, his family, close friends and military leaders. Majority of the country is starving and living without electricity and most likely will continue to with or without the aid from other countries. IMHO, Russia and China should reconsider too. Chances are, they have a few names on their "Missing Person" list still alive in NK.
JoeBigs at 07:44 PM JST - 18th July

No other country cares about it`s people other than Japan.....Simple
bibric at 09:03 PM JST - 18th July
Japan should have learned from the sudden decline of the former Prime Minister Abe.
1. P.M Abe was so Cons, therefore couldn't get out of the Cons' line. He didn't want to change toward North Korea. Instead, he defied the US since the US already took a rapid step to consolidate the North Korean de-nuclearization within his terms. To do this job, the President Bush put a prominent Korean American scholar, Victor Cha, in a NSC of the US government.
2. P.M Abe also attempted to join the UN Security Committee in any form. At the time, the Japanese government launched a big campaign against the South Korea.
3. Obviously, the fatal mistake of P.M Abe was that he refused the coerciveness in drafting Military Sexual Slaves for Japan, which was fully acknowledged by Gono 1995. This position threatened the world community based on International Human Rights and other shared principles.
4. In conclusion, as long as the Japanese government takes a strong position on the Cons. against North Korea, the Japanese government would face in peril of regime change. The US already took a great stride for changing North Korea. At the beginning of this year, a high profile of Wall Mart visited to North Korea to do business in North Korea. This profile was accompanied by the US politicians. Simply, as long as Japan is stuck on the Cons' policy, the US and China are not happy.
Seiharinokaze at 10:28 PM JST - 18th July

bibric

Strangely enough, I tend to share your views in the last paragraph of your post. According to a political critic Mr. Hamada Kazuyuki, the South Korean government estimates that NK has rich underground resources such as rare earth and uranium that is equivalent to over 480 trillion yen. That's why not only China and Russia but Western fund and other businesses are intent on paying a visit to Pyongyang now. If so, why not go on giving aids or take any other means for yourselves to promote denuclearization of NK without Japan? To tame the rogue country to do business easier and safer and keep everything to yourselves? Why are the US and China not happy if Japan is not included in the 6 party talks? They better exclude Japan.
RepublicofTexas at 11:27 PM JST - 18th July

Japan should have learned from the sudden decline of the former Prime Minister Abe.

Prime Minister Abe's fall had nothing to do with the North Korean issue. In fact his hardline stance was where much of his popularity derived from. He fell from grace b/c of numerous scandals that struck his various ministers. As for him being ultra-conservative, he was a conservative but he avoided many things that are characteristic of the Japanese far-right (such as Yasukuni or shunning China). There is nothing wrong with conservatism, just ultra-conservatism. I think you are confusing the two.
bibric at 02:16 AM JST - 19th July
*Seiharinokaze *
1. I can confirm as well that N.Korea is of abundance in some natural resources, but not to the significant extent that it doesn't need any outside help.
2. The major purpose of the aid to N. Korea is to offset the cost of removing the nuclear reactor plant that is supposed to produce electricity regardless its real intention of inventing nuclear weapon. Accordingly, the 6-party-talks started with the prerequisites of full compensation for the full removal of the nuclear reactor plant.
3. Of course, it is absolutely dependent on Japan's domestic policy to decide whether or not Japan cooperates with other regional powers by sharing some parts of the cost. Yet, Japan may not endure successfully the severe pressure from the US.
bibric at 02:22 AM JST - 19th July

RepublicofTexas In my opinion, PM Abe looks so extreme Cons, Ultra Cons in your term. Um, you are right that he did not visit the Shrine.
Seiharinokaze at 03:16 AM JST - 19th July

bibric

Yet, Japan may not endure successfully the severe pressure from the US.

I share your views again. But sorry you haven't replied to my question yet. Why such a severe pressure from the US? And why do China insist that Japan should be closely involved in the process? Even if Japan doesn't get involved in the provision of the remaining 150,000 tons of oil to NK, I don't think it will be a deadly problem for promoting the denuclearization process inasmuch as Japan just stands by keeping silent while her share of cost is being shouldered by other members. Or rather the other members should just go on without Japan, if they think Japan is too myopic to see the importance of stability in East Asia being fettered by its own national sentiments about abduction issue.
bibric at 04:55 AM JST - 19th July

Seiharinokaze

Apology for hurting you in any point of what I said above.

My point resorts to the underlying assumption that the world system based on "democracy and Free trade capitalism" is pretty vulnerable by the power countries. For instance, for Japan, the US is one of the most promising and still growing market. In details, the US is a a great market for Japanese automobile products. The world system is not actually free since any government can put to some extent a kind of barriers in a variety of measures. In particular, the government in a strong country like the US must have a lot of leverages to manipulate other countries.Japan is dependent on substantially the international trade with the US.I think that I do not have to cite the 1985 trade conflict between the two countries.

In this context, if the Japanese government is not willing to share some parts of the costs for stabilizing the regional security in North East Asia, the US and China will bother the Japanese government by making some ostensible reasons.
RepublicofTexas at 06:02 AM JST - 19th July

if the Japanese government is not willing to share some parts of the costs for stabilizing the regional security in North East Asia

The Japanese are perfectly willing to pay for stabilizing East Asia, so long as North Korea returns her citizens and her neighbors stop with the hypocrisy. As for America being a promising market, auto sales are stagnating in the US and people are being more conservative with their spending as the economy enters recession.
imagawa at 09:55 AM JST - 19th July

Why should Japan play any role in any of this? Japan is never going to get any respect for any aid they send, they will remain as always remain the villan of the region. They are damned if they do & damned if they don’t, fine, save the money & avoid being made to look stupid for giving aid to a country that hates them. Yet again NK is blackmailing to get what it wants & yet again when they get what they want they will break all promises. How many times does this need to happen before the world stops falling for it? Starving & sick North Korean people are the perfect leverage that the NK government need to get aid from the west & so stay in power. Whatever the west gives, if it gets to the people will be seen to have come from the NK government & their glorious leader. No credit will be given to the outside world & no progress will be made in any way shape of form. Everybody is pandering to the crazy cry baby of Asia. If we want peace in Asia removing that crazy is the answer, not feeding it.
apecNetworks at 04:31 PM JST - 19th July

I do not underestimate the Japanese Foreign Ministry's ability to formulate policy in the 6way talks, and can see real gains w/ the abduction issue. However, I do not have any confidential info in this matter, so I state what is at stake. If one looks at the 6way talks, it is almost the UN Security Council minus Britain and France. ROK (S. Korea) is represented by the UN Sec Gen. The 6way talks is a clear indicator of how Japan may conduct itself if it becomes a permanent member. And, as the title of the article states, "Japan's abduction strategy baffles counterparts at 6-party NK talks". Definately, not a good indicator.
apecNetworks at 06:23 PM JST - 20th July

I don't know the scale of readership JT attracts, but some of my posts are affecting events to a degree. Japan's abduction strategy hopefully will be modified, in a small way influencing the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The affect of my posts are strange, and I am now receiving discrete positive and negative acknowledgments of my post locally. The Internet can change events if the quality of info is sufficient - at least that is my experience and JT must be well read by newsmakers.