Japan, North revive talks on mutual ties

Confirming an announcement from Tokyo, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency said yesterday that North Korean and Japanese officials would meet in Beijing on Saturday to restart talks on diplomatic recognition.
One key issue for Tokyo will be the fate of Japanese citizens abducted and transported to North Korea by Pyongyang’s agents two decades or more ago.
The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday that if negotiations made substantial progress, Tokyo would set out its war reparations offer as a part of the normalization. Other issues likely to arise are disputes over Japan’s view of its imperial era in the first half of the 20th century and the North’s nuclear and missile programs.
The talks were launched in October 2002, but soon foundered in acrimony.