North Korea tells Japan it stopped search for abductees over hostile policies
North Korea has told Japan that its search for Japanese abducted by the regime is being put on hold because of Tokyo's "hostile policies" towards Pyongyang.
North Korea has told Japan that its search for Japanese abducted by the regime is being put on hold because of Tokyo's "hostile policies" towards Pyongyang.
The investigation was launched a year ago, and, in return for Tokyo relaxing sanctions, North Korea promised to find all the Japanese in the country by August. Japan is still waiting for a response, while pressure is growing at home for tougher sanctions to be imposed.
Japan has reacted angrily to hints from Pyongyang that it will walk away from talks on the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean spies because of Tokyo's "hostile policies".
Through diplomatic channels in Beijing, the North Korean government informed Japanese negotiators this week that discussions that began a year ago were experiencing "difficulties". It accused Tokyo of "internationalising" their bilateral disputes.
Pyongyang is unhappy that Japan has been a vociferous supporter of moves at the United Nations to hold the regime accountable for its human rights record.
It has also been incensed by a raid conducted by Japanese police of six properties owned by Chongryon, the association of North Korean residents of Japan, including the home of the chairman of the organisation, Ho Jang-man.
In a statement carried by the KCNA state-run news agency, The Korean Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries said it "vehemently denounces the Japanese reactionaries' search as a wanton violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK, [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] reckless politically-motivated suppression of Chongryon and Koreans in Japan and an anachronistic confrontational act of inciting hostility between the peoples of the DPRK and Japan".
Responding to the suggestion that the North would withdraw from the talks, Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister, told reporters in Tokyo that the move would be "totally unacceptable". He added that a formal protest was being relayed to Pyongyang "immediately" and insisted Japan had adhered to the agreement forged in Stockholm last May.
Under the deal, North Korea promised to carry out a thorough investigation into the whereabouts of all Japanese in the country.
In return for the information and, potentially, the release of any Japanese who wished to return home, Tokyo agreed to lift a number of sanctions, including permitting a North Korean ferry to once again dock regularly at a Japanese port.
"The things that the North Koreans are complaining about are not, in truth, very serious matters, but it's a typical tactic of Pyongyang to blow small issues up into major incidents when it is in their interests to break off talks such as these," Go Ito, a professor of international relations at Tokyo's Meiji University, said.
"It is a tactic they have used time and again in talks over their nuclear programmes," he said, pointing to promises to halt development of the Yongbyon nuclear plant in return for concessions from the international community, only to fabricate a dispute once fuel oil, conventional energy technology or food supplies have been delivered.
Ito admits, however, that Tokyo has few other options at its disposal to force North Korea to keep its promise.
"This is extreme bad faith on the part of the North Koreans, but I expect the Japanese government to continue attempting to communicate with the North," he said.
There are growing calls in Japan for the government to impose even harsher sanctions on Pyongyang in an effort to force the regime to negotiate.