North Korea to reopen inquiry into kidnapped Japanese citizens

North Korea has agreed to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens it kidnapped decades ago, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday.

This is a potential breakthrough in a bitter dispute between Tokyo and Pyongyang.

North Korea admitted in 2002 to kidnapping Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies. Five abductees and their families were returned to Japan but North Korea said the remaining eight were dead. Japan pressed for more information about their fate and others that Tokyo believes were also kidnapped.

“The DPRK [North Korean] side . . . expressed the willingness to conduct a comprehensive and full-scale survey for the final settlement of all issues related to Japan,” North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said in a near-simultaneous announcement.

Japan has agreed to ease some sanctions against North Korea once the inquiry has been reopened and will consider providing humanitarian aid depending on how the investigation progresses, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said separately.

“Our job will not end until every parent can embrace their children with their own arms,” Mr Abe said. “This is a first step toward an overall resolution.”

North Korea promised in 2008 to reopen the inquiry, but it did not follow through. It also reneged on promises made in multilateral talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme and declared the negotiations over.

Nuclear test

The agreement on the abductees inquiry comes at a time of regional concerns that Pyongyang may be preparing for a fourth nuclear test in contravention of UN sanctions.

Asked whether Japan’s actions meant it was out of step with Washington and Seoul, Mr Suga said: “It’s impossible. This agreement covers sanctions that Japan imposed on its own. It is not related to UN sanctions.”

Mr Suga added that Japan would keep pressing for a “comprehensive resolution” to the issues of the abductees and the threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programmes before it would normalise ties.

Japanese and North Korean officials met in Stockholm this week to discuss the dispute and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, but officials had said only that the two sides agreed only to keep talking.– (Reuters)