Japan, North Korea End Bilateral Talks

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Beijing, 4 November: Japan and North Korea wrapped up bilateral working-level talks Friday evening [4 November], agreeing issues related to the past need to be settled, North Korea’s chief delegate said.

Song Il-ho, vice-director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s Asian Affairs Department, said the two days of talks in Beijing were useful in terms of reopening negotiations for normalizing bilateral diplomatic relations.

Song said the two sides remain divided on the issue of past North Korean abduction of Japanese nationals.

Japan and North Korea will arrange their next round of talks through diplomatic channels, he said.