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North Korea demands quick end of talks with Japan
Kuala Lumpur, Oct 30: North Korea today warned that it was running out of patience in talks aimed at normalising diplomatic relations with Japan and demanded a quick end to the rapprochement process, a Japanese official said.
Kuala Lumpur, Oct 30: North Korea today warned that it was running out of patience in talks aimed at normalising diplomatic relations with Japan and demanded a quick end to the rapprochement process, a Japanese official said.
The head of North Korea's delegation to the two-day talks in the Malaysian capital, Jong thae-Hwa, indicated that Pyongyang had no intention of spending much time on the negotiations, the official said. Jong told Katsunari Suzuki, the head of the Japanese delegation, that he read newspaper reports that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was urging the Japanese team here to keep on patiently pressing North Korea.
"Koizumi urged patience. But for us, we have no intention to commit ourselves in the normalization process for a long time," Jong was quoted by the Japanese official as telling Suzuki. "We want to do it quickly," he said, expressing frustration that Japan spent too much time of the negotiations on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and Pyongyang's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.
Japan sees resolving the two issues as paramount in the normalization process.
"Jong said that they came here to discuss normalization and economic assistance matters but argued Japan did not talk about them at all," the Japanese official told reporters.
The head of North Korea's delegation to the two-day talks in the Malaysian capital, Jong thae-Hwa, indicated that Pyongyang had no intention of spending much time on the negotiations, the official said. Jong told Katsunari Suzuki, the head of the Japanese delegation, that he read newspaper reports that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was urging the Japanese team here to keep on patiently pressing North Korea.
"Koizumi urged patience. But for us, we have no intention to commit ourselves in the normalization process for a long time," Jong was quoted by the Japanese official as telling Suzuki. "We want to do it quickly," he said, expressing frustration that Japan spent too much time of the negotiations on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and Pyongyang's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.
Japan sees resolving the two issues as paramount in the normalization process.
"Jong said that they came here to discuss normalization and economic assistance matters but argued Japan did not talk about them at all," the Japanese official told reporters.
The North Korean side "seems really frustrated" by Japan's tactics during the talks, the official said.
Bureau Report