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JAPAN/NORTH KOREA: Talks Fail Over Bitter History – No New Dates

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Mar 9 2007 (IPS) - Talks between Japan and North Korea this week to normalise bilateral relations failed to get over a bitter past history with the two sides unable to even set future dates for resumption of dialogue.

”The problems that divide both sides are steeped in bitter history and narrow political interests. The attempt to go ahead is heartening but there are very few concrete signs of trying to close the yawning gap,” Prof. Kang Doc Sang, an expert on modern Korea-Japan history, explained to IPS.

At the talks, held in Vietnam, Japan insisted on first resolving the issue of the abduction of its citizens by the reclusive communist state in the 1970s and 1980s for recruitment as spies. And North Korea wanted a settlement of issues stemming from Japan’s harsh 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula and wartime atrocities.

The talks are linked to a six-country deal signed last month under which Pyongyang is to cap its nuclear weapons programme in exchange for aid and diplomatic recognition. Japan is a leading player on the platform which includes the United States, China, Russia and South Korea.

As part of the multi-lateral deal, struck in Beijing on Feb. 14, Pyongyang sent its chief nuclear negotiator to Washington this week.

”It is regrettable that North Korea did not show a sincere attitude on the abduction issueà. But the meeting was meaningful in that full-scale negotiations were held for the first time in 13 months and the two countries could at least confirm each other’s position,” Koichi Haraguchi, Japan’s chief negotiator was quoted as saying.

In 2002, North Korea admitted that its agents had abducted 13 Japanese to train them as spies. So far, five people have been repatriated and Pyongyang says the other eight are dead.

In reciprocation, Pyongyang wants Japanese, who allegedly helped North Koreans to defect, arrested and tried in North Korea. Pyongyang has also demanded compensation for wartime atrocities, including the recruitment of ‘comfort women’ or sex-slaves for occupying Japanese soldiers.

On Friday, the daily ‘Yomiuri’ described the breakdown of the talks in Hanoi as an indication that bilateral negotiations ‘’seem set for an arduous battle of wills”. It said North Korea appeared to be trying to ‘’drive a wedge between Japan and the other five countries involved in the six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme”.

”The international community was united in its condemnation of North Korea after the nuclear test. However, this displeasure has withered. Pyongyang might be trying to force Japan to drop its hard-line stance…”

”Japan should avoid becoming isolated,” the Yomiuri admonished Tokyo. ‘’To this end, Japan must devise careful strategies to reach comprehensive solutions on the nuclear and missile development and abduction issues by strengthening cooperation with Washington…”

Analysts say they are not surprised at the failure of the talks given that both sides flew into Hanoi refusing to budge from their stated positions. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who leads Japan’s abduction policy, told the Japanese press on Thursday: ‘’I instructed them ( Japanese delegates) to give their all so the abduction issue will be resolved through the working group.”

Prof. Tetsuo Maeda, a security expert and visiting professor at Okinawa University, told IPS that the nationalist Abe’s unbending position may have contributed to the discord in Hanoi. ”Tokyo’s agenda demanded a full accounting of the truth by Pyongyang as well as handing over of the suspects involved – that amounts to creating a hurdle too high to scale given the North Korean isolation as well as the historical past,” said Maeda.

Recent punitive measures taken by the Japanese government against North Korea, including a ban on a North Korean ferry that moves ethnic Koreans to the peninsula, may have exacerbated tensions.

On top of that, on Monday, Abe sought to refute the idea that the Japanese military coerced Korean women into the role of comfort women, sparking outrage in the former colonies of Taiwan and South Korea as well.

While there is no official confirmation, the Japanese press has reported that Tokyo might offer economic aid as atonement for the colonisation and the many atrocities committed by the Japanese military during World War Two.

The fact that both parties sat down together in Hanoi at all is now being seen as the sole positive outcome of the failed talks which are considered critical for peace in East Asia.

Currently facing low public approval rates -42 percent – Abe retains respect mostly for his tough stand on the abduction issue that has angered the Japanese public.

On the nuclear front, most Japanese do not agree with the international community on trusting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons, especially when it has a record of reneging on promises.

Abe’s scheduled trip to the U.S. in April, a month earlier than originally planned, is also seen as an attempt by the politically beleaguered leader to gain Washington’s support for Japan’s North Korea position which is important to restoring Abe’s domestic appeal.

Abe faces a crucial electoral test in July when the nation goes to the polls to elect a new Upper House.