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N. Korea Rejects Japan in Nuke Talks

Posted on: Saturday, 29 November 2003, 06:00 CST

North Korea said Saturday it will not allow Japan to join multilateral talks over its nuclear weapons program if Tokyo insists on discussing the abduction of its citizens by the communist state.

The North's rejection could snarl ongoing efforts to restart six-nation nuclear talks, possible next month. The United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas held the first such talks in Beijing in August.

"If Japan, piggybacking the United States, continues to try to raise the abduction issue at the six-nation talks, we can never be condone its participation," the North's state-run KCNA news agency said.

Japan has repeatedly insisted on handling North Korea's abductions as part of the six-nation talks. North Korea accuses Japan of abusing the negotiations, saying the issue has been settled.

"This is an impure intention of the United States to create a hurdle by raising the issue again as during the past Beijing six-nation talks," said KCNA, monitored by South Korea's national Yonhap news agency.

Preparing for new round of talks, South Korea's Assistant Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said early this week that Seoul, Tokyo and Washington were drafting an agreement to sign with North Korea.

Lee said the three allies plan to fine-tune the draft with China.

He did not elaborate, but Japan's Kyodo news agency has said the accord would include North's agreement to abandon its nuclear program, while the five other countries promise to provide a security guarantee.

No date has been set for the second six-nation talks, but delegations are aiming for mid-December.

The kidnapping of Japanese during the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea to train its spies has been a major sticking point between the Asian neighbors, stalling efforts to set up diplomatic relations.

The Japanese public was outraged when North Korea Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted during a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2002 that his nation's agents had systematically kidnapped Japanese decades ago. They were reportedly forced to teach the Japanese language and culture to North Korean intelligence officers.

North Korea has allowed the return of five kidnapped Japanese. But the abductees' children - and a suspected deserter from the U.S. Army who is married to one the five - remain in the communist nation.

The nuclear dispute flared in October 2002, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted running a secret nuclear program in violation of international agreements.

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