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N Korea blames Japan for failure to improve bilateral ties
Seoul, Sept 17: North Korea marked the anniversary of a landmark Pyongyang-Tokyo summit today by blaming Japan for the collapse of efforts to improve bilateral ties.
Seoul, Sept 17: North Korea marked the anniversary of a landmark Pyongyang-Tokyo summit today by blaming Japan for the collapse of efforts to improve bilateral ties.
A year ago in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged to work towards establishing diplomatic relations and removing
decades of suspicion and hostility between the two Northeast Asian neighbours.
The goodwill evaporated amid the deepening nuclear crisis and growing outrage in Japan over Kim's admission that North Korea had carried out 13 abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s. North Korea's Foreign Ministry said prospects for improved ties were bright a year ago.
"But, regretfully, the review of the past one year indicates that the present bilateral relations are much worse than those before the declaration was published," it said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement blamed Tokyo's hard-line stand on the nuclear crisis and the "fuss" kicked up in Tokyo over the abduction issue. The abductions have become a political hot potato for Koizumi, facing a reelection battle and demands to get tougher in dealings with the Stalinist state.
Bureau Report
The goodwill evaporated amid the deepening nuclear crisis and growing outrage in Japan over Kim's admission that North Korea had carried out 13 abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s. North Korea's Foreign Ministry said prospects for improved ties were bright a year ago.
"But, regretfully, the review of the past one year indicates that the present bilateral relations are much worse than those before the declaration was published," it said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement blamed Tokyo's hard-line stand on the nuclear crisis and the "fuss" kicked up in Tokyo over the abduction issue. The abductions have become a political hot potato for Koizumi, facing a reelection battle and demands to get tougher in dealings with the Stalinist state.
Bureau Report