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J.T. ... this is the first hopeful international news I can remember reading in a very long time ... I think it is pretty amazing ...
Ken
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September 17, 2002, The New York Times
Japan and North Korea Reach Agreement on Relations
by Howard W French
PYOGNYANG, North Korea, Sept. 17 — Moving to end decades of bitter hostility, Japan and North Korea reached a broad agreement to begin normalization of relations between the two countries in a groundbreaking summit meeting here today.
North Korea cleared the way for normalization talks, which will begin next month, with an extraordinary admission of the government's own criminality, acknowledging that its agents played a part in the disappearance of 11 Japanese citizens who have been missing since the late 1970's.
Moving to blunt Washington's criticism of the country as an international security menace, meanwhile, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, said he would observe an open-ended moratorium on the testing of ballistic weapons. The self-imposed moratorium was to have ended next year.
Mr. Kim also asked the visiting Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, to convey a message to the Bush administration that his government's "door is open for dialogue."
The diplomatic breakthrough, which sets the two countries on a path to establishing diplomatic relations for the first time since North Korea was founded, in 1948, was obtained by Japan at the price of a large but still unspecified amount of "grants, long-term loans and humanitarian assistance."
Recent Japanese press accounts have said the total value of this aid could reach between $8 and $10 billion. Though not officially confirmed, these figures are based roughly on the formula Japan used when it normalized relations with South Korea, in 1965.
In a joint declaration issued today, Japan also repeated essentially the same apology it made to South Korea for suffering caused during 35 years of colonial rule.
"Japan humbly recognized the historical fact that it caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of Korea through its past colonial rule and expressed feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology," the apology said.
The day's agreements reflected a rare moment of clear diplomatic assertiveness by a Japan that traditionally hews closely to its main ally, the United States, in international affairs, especially those involving security questions.
The signing of a joint declaration and receipt of detailed news of the fate of the missing Japanese appeared to vindicate Mr. Koizumi's politically risky decision to visit a secretive and unpredictable Communist country that President Bush has labeled a member of an "axis of evil."
Diplomat observers here said the fact that Mr. Kim acceded to Japan's principle demands with little apparent resistance reflected Pyongyang's dire need for hard currency to stave off economic collapse, and eagerness to temper relations with the Bush administration by reconciling with its most important regional ally.
"All of the sudden the world looks very hostile to them," said a senior Western diplomat here. "This is an attempt to break out of the encirclement."
From the outset, the Japanese government had posited the fate of the missing persons as the most important issue between the two countries, and the ultimate measure of the Koizumi trip's success. And weeks of extraordinarily heavy press coverage of the disappearances had dramatically raised the stakes of failure for the Japanese prime minister.
North Korea angrily walked out of talks with Japan in 1998, when the abduction issue was first raised. But in a bit of early morning drama, even before the formal start of the summit meeting, North Korean officials relieved much of that pressure by reportedly acknowledging their agents' responsibility for the abductions.
The diplomatic breakthrough was tempered, however, by the announcement that 6 of the 11 people claimed by Japan are dead, and that another one is missing. North Korea also said that yet another missing Japanese person who was previously unknown to the government had died.
In the first of two sessions with Mr. Koizumi, Mr. Kim said of the deaths, which are being laid to natural disasters and natural causes, "this is truly regretful, and I offer my candid apology." A Japanese official quoted Mr. Kim as adding "this will never happen again."
According to Japanese diplomats, Mr. Kim said the disappearances, some of which occurred in coastal areas of Japan, and others in Europe, were caused by overzealous members of the security forces who wanted to employ native Japanese as language trainers for North Korean special services, or intelligence agencies.
The disappearances had happened against "the backdrop of bad relations," the Korean leader reportedly said, adding, "After I came to know about this, the persons responsible have been punished."
Mr. Kim did not appear in public after the summit meeting, and accounts of his words were provided only by Japanese officials who took part in the talks.
State television tonight stuck to a brief explanation of the joint declaration between the two countries concerning normalization.
North Korea's Central News Agency, however, quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying: "It is regrettable that these issues surfaced in the past as a product of the abnormal relationship with Japan. We will prevent such things from happening in the future."
For his part, Mr. Koizumi opened an early-evening news conference, which was broadcast live to Japan, with a mournful statement about the deceased abductees. "When I think of the feelings of the families, I have no words to express my feelings," he said. "It is extremely regrettable, to think that these people cannot return to Japan."
Mr. Koizumi's government must now walk a fine line in selling its normalization and expected reconstruction aid package to North Korea, given the high death toll among the abducted. Senior officials labored today to convey an image of sensitivity toward the families. The chief cabinet officer, Mr. Koizumi's top aide, personally informed each family of whatever the government had been able to learn about their relative.
"I was looking forward to the good news today," said Shigeru Yokota, the 69-year-old father of Megumi Yokota, whose daughter, Megumi, was 13 when she disappeared on the way home from school in Niigata in 1977.
"But the result was a very tragic one, her death. We heard that she was married and had a daughter. I cannot believe her death. I want the government to investigate specifically, on how she was brought to North Korea, and how she died."
The pressures Mr. Koizumi has faced domestically over the issue of disappeared persons have been matched by pressures from the Bush administration not to lose sight of regional and international security issues related to North Korean international missile sales, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
In Washington on Monday, soon after a meeting with Japan's foreign minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld called North Korea "one of the world's worst proliferators," and said the country had been "aggressively developing nuclear weapons."
Mr. Kim said vaguely that his country would abide by international agreements concerning nuclear weapons. But, absent among the day's concessions by Pyongyang was any mention of something sought by Washington and Tokyo: an agreement for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to operate freely in the country in order to ensure that North Korea is not diverting plutonium stocks for nuclear weapons production.
The Bush administration has regarded negotiations with North Korea with suspicion almost from its inception, and Washington's skepticism is widely seen as having slowed a continuing rapprochement between North and South Korea.
Marking an unmistakable difference in both substance and tone from the Bush administration, however, Mr. Koizumi gave an impassioned defense of dialogue with Pyongyang, saying "unless you open the negotiation process, there will be no improvement on the issues."
"Progress in Japan-North Korean ties do not just benefit the two countries," Mr. Koizumi added. "It affects peace on the Korean peninsula and all of North Eastern Asia. It also contributes greatly to peace and stability of South Korea, the United States, Russia, China, other neighboring nations and the international community as a whole."
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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