N.Korea snubs Japan on talks at Asia meeting-Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea has rejected a Japanese offer
to hold bilateral talks during an Asia-Pacific security meeting
next week, Kyodo news agency said on Wednesday, in another sign
of strain between the two countries.

Japan had proposed that Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura
meet North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun on the
sidelines of the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Laos
taking place on July 28-29, Kyodo said.

North Korea told Japan that it had no intention of holding
such a meeting, Kyodo quoted a top Japanese Foreign Ministry
official as saying.

The official said it might still be possible for Machimura
to approach Paek in between official ARF events, Kyodo said.

A Foreign Ministry official declined to comment on the
Kyodo report.

Japan is locked in a bitter dispute with North Korea over
the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang decades
ago to help train its spies.

The issue has been a major obstacle to normalizing ties
between Japan and North Korea, and often whips up more emotion
among the Japanese public than the threat of Pyongyang’s
nuclear or missile programs.

Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea made clear it had no
intention either of discussing the abduction issue with Japan
when diplomats from the two countries attend talks in Beijing
next week aimed at ending Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons
ambitions.

Tokyo was threatening to complicate an already difficult
process by raising the issue, said a commentary carried by the
official KCNA news agency.

“Japan will find nothing to do at the future six-party
talks even if it attends them unless it drops its crooked
viewpoint and way of thinking,” it added.

Another Kyodo report said there was a chance that Machimura
might cancel his trip to Laos and visit New York instead,
should talks related to Japan’s bid to become a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council enter a crucial
phase.

The U.N. General Assembly might take a vote on July 29 on a
resolution compiled by Japan, Brazil, Germany and India to
enlarge the council, and Machimura might go to New York to try
to win support, it quoted a top ministry official as saying.

In that case, a senior vice foreign minister might go to
Laos in his place, Kyodo said.