• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

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

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 08:07 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category