North Korea refuses to resolve kidnapping probe until Japan lifts sanctions
Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects the North is involved in many more disappearances. Five of the 17 were repatriated in 2002
North Korea has said it will not comply with Tokyo’s demand for a resolution of the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the North decades ago unless Japan lifts unilateral economic sanctions, sources close to bilateral ties said Thursday.
Pyongyang’s demand to Japan has been made during behind-the-scene talks regarding the abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s and is viewed possibly as a condition to resume investigations into the fate of the victims, the sources said.
But it remains uncertain whether Japan will heed North Korea’s call, as it continues to seek a comprehensive resolution of the nuclear, missile and abduction issues.
The long-stalled issue about the missing people has seen no tangible progress since 2016 when the North disbanded a special panel to reinvestigate the victims’ whereabouts in retaliation to the sanctions Japan had imposed on the North due to its continued nuclear and missile tests.
The panel was set up based on an agreement between Tokyo and Pyongyang in 2014 in Stockholm.
But during behind-the-scenes negotiations following the historic inter-Korean summit in April this year, North Korea told Japan at the working-level that the Stockholm deal has “not been scrapped”, the sources said.