Home>News Center>World
         
 

Report: Koizumi to visit N. Korea next week
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-14 13:24

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will travel to North Korea as early as the end of next week to retrieve family members of Japanese citizens who were abducted decades ago by North Korea and released in 2002, news reports said Friday.

Kyodo News service said the trip would take place May 22; national broadcaster NHK said Koizumi would travel either May 22 or May 23. A Koizumi spokesman, Yu Kameoka, said he could not confirm the report.


Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, seen at parliament May 11, 2004, will go to North Korea late next week for talks on the families of Japanese citizens kidnapped decades ago by Pyongyang to train spies, Japanese media said May 14, 2004. A breakthrough in the dispute over the abductees would clear the way for talks on establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries and a coup for Koizumi ahead of a July Upper House election. [Reuters]
Kyodo said the government would make an announcement later Friday.

Speculation has been high in recent weeks that Koizumi could go to Pyongyang to get the family members. The issue is highly emotional in Japan, where the abductees and their supporters have accused the government of failing to make progress in talks with North Korea over the fate of those they left behind.

Such a trip, if successful, would be an important political coup for Koizumi, whose ruling coalition faces important elections in the upper house of Parliament in July.

The families of the kidnapping victims said they had high expectations for Koizumi.

"Once he goes there, we hope he will bring back the five abductees' families at the very least, and also find a resolution for other people who are still missing," said Toru Hasuike, whose brother, Kaoru Hasuike was abducted in the late 1970s and returned to Japan in 2002. He added the trip was "a brave decision."

North Korea has acknowledged kidnapping at least 13 Japanese citizens to train spies in the Japanese language and customs. Pyongyang said eight of them have since died, and it allowed the five survivors to return to Japan after a landmark 2002 summit between Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

That was Koizumi's last trip to the North.

Pyongyang, however, had so far refused to release the former abductees' family relatives, eight children and one husband — alleged U.S. Army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins, who has stayed behind with their two teenage daughters.

North Korea had argued in the past that the repatriation was only temporarily and Tokyo violated the agreement by keeping the former abductees in Japan.

It was not immediately clear on Friday whether North Korea had already agreed to release the relatives as a prerequisite for Koizumi's visit, and it was not certain how many of them would be included in such a deal. Jenkins, for example, has said he doesn't want to leave his adopted home.

Some in Japan have opposed a trip by Koizumi to pick up the relatives, arguing that Japan should not make such a move without Pyongyang satisfying Tokyo's additional demands to share information on the kidnapping victims that died in North Korea and others that Japan believes were abducted by Northern agents.

A North Korean agreement to finally allow the departure of the abductee relatives would reflect Pyongyang's need to advance talks on normalizing relations with Japan, home to the world's second-largest economy and a potential source of much needed aid for the impoverished state.

Officials from both sides met for two days last week to discuss the abductions but did not appear to make much progress.

Japan has long tried to link resolution of the abductions to six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, but that effort has been resisted by Pyongyang and not supported by Beijing, which is hosting working level talks this week on the nuclear issue.

In an apparent concession to Pyongyang this week, Tokyo said it would not attempt to engage North Korean delegates in a discussion of the abductions at the Beijing talks.

Flying to Pyongyang to retrieve the families would not be without risk for Koizumi.

Few foreign leaders have held summits with Kim, whose nuclear weapons development and aggressively isolationist policies have made his nation an international pariah. Some fear the North is using the abductee issue as a ploy to undermine the unity of Japan and other countries engaged in talks on North Korean nuclear weapons.

Other opponents of the summit simply don't trust North Korean promises, having seen them dissolve repeatedly in the past. In a statement issued this week, a support group representing the former abductees urged Koizumi to reconsider, saying the time for another summit is not yet ripe.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Nick Berg died for Bush, Rumsfeld 'sins' - father

 

   
 

Nation reports fourth monthly trade deficit

 

   
 

Rumsfeld visits Iraq, vows no abuse cover-up

 

   
 

TV told queer dressing, phony tones are out

 

   
 

S. Korean impeached president reinstated

 

   
 

Beijing acts on low-end housing

 

   
  S. Korean impeached president reinstated
   
  Vajpayee resigns after poll upset
   
  Rumsfeld visits Iraq, vows no abuse cover-up
   
  Expert says Mexico UFOs may have been gas
   
  UK: Abuse photos not taken in Iraq
   
  CIA says Al-Zarqawi beheaded Berg in Iraq
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Koizumi to pick up abductee kin in Pyongyang
   
Japan PM may visit N.Korea in September
  News Talk  
  Scandal over humiliation of Iraqi prisoners  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 色www永久免费| 久久久久久久国产精品电影| 看**一级**多毛片| 国产chinesehd精品酒店| 久久久久777777人人人视频| 国产精品美女流白浆视频| a级成人高清毛片| 巨大欧美黑人xxxxbbbb| 中文毛片无遮挡高清免费| 日韩成全视频观看免费观看高清| 亚洲午夜久久久久妓女影院| 欧美色图第三页| 佐藤遥希在线播放一二区| 绿巨人app入口| 国产chinese91在线| 青青国产线免观| 国产在线视频资源| 日本黄色小视频在线观看| 国产精品免费精品自在线观看| 92国产精品午夜福利免费| 大香伊蕉国产av| groupsex娇小紧的5一8| 妈妈的柔润小说在线阅读| 一级特黄录像免费播放肥| 成年男女免费视频网站| 久久18禁高潮出水呻吟娇喘| 日本少妇高潮喷水xxxxxxx| 久久精品国产99国产精品亚洲 | 拍拍拍又黄又爽无挡视频免费| 久久午夜无码鲁丝片直播午夜精品| 最新亚洲精品国自产在线观看| 亚洲一级免费视频| 欧美性猛交xxxx乱大交3| 亚洲欧美强伦一区二区另类| 正在播放国产伦理片| 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久蜜桃不卡 | 99re最新视频| 在线精品小视频| 99久久精品免费观看国产| 在线看免费毛片| 99精品久久久中文字幕|