Six-way talks on North Korea falter

For Japan, the failure to make any significant progress at the second round of the six-way talks was a double debacle, as the country was also hoping to make a breakthrough on the thorny abduction issue, too. Despite the reluctance of other participants to bring the bilateral issue of abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents, Japanese government earlier made it clear that Tokyo would like to see the issue included in the agenda. But as it became clear at a later stage that all other participants of the negotiation, including the United States, would prefer to focus on the main issue and were not willing to see the talks derailed with the inclusion of maters of bilateral nature, Japan had no other option but to seek for the consent of its allies that the issue would at least be referred to in the final document.

As a result, the sole achievement for Tokyo at the end of the four-day six-way talks was getting the abduction issue mentioned in the chairman's written statement, adopted at the close of the meeting. The statement merely affirmed that the parties agreed to take coordinated steps to address issues of concerns related to North Korea.

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The head of the Japanese delegation raised the abduction issue when the Japanese side met its North Korean counterpart separately on the sidelines of the main discussion. Japan conveyed its official position that the relatives of five abducted Japanese nationals who had returned home last year would be allowed to visit Japan without further delay. Although nothing came of the bilateral discussion, observers see the mere fact that the discussion took place as an encouraging sign. Instead of repeating country's earlier position that bringing up the abduction issue was hindering efforts to improve relations, North Korean side this time had demonstrated its willingness to engage in dialogue with Japan. Some analysts attribute this shift in Pyongyang's attitude to a change in country's strategy. The North probably has realised the importance of dealing with Japan as a way of keeping alive the chances of appeasing the United States.

In the two-way discussions with Japan, the North Korean side thus appeared more positive than at any previous round. The leader of the North Korean delegation also said that progress in the issue of the North's abduction of Japanese nationals was connected to resolving the nuclear problem and improved relations between Pyongyang and Washington. The two-way meeting reconfirmed that Japan and North Korea will continue to hold bilateral talks on the abduction issue.

As the Japanese delegation returned home from Beijing without making any significant breakthrough except the verbal commitment of continuation of dialogue, this could not satisfy those who are in favour of taking a hard line stance against Pyongyang. As a result, there were widespread calls from those quarters to impose economic sanctions against North Korea over the abduction issue. The issue has by now become the focus of attention of country's extreme right political grouping that saw in it an important means of its own survival, as the nationalistic slogans without the support of substantial factual evidence were fast loosing their appeal. The issue of abduction of Japanese nationals, which first came into light when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made his historic trip to Pyongyang in September 2002, has been picked up by the right wing political circles of Japan as an issue of extremely important national interest and they are not willing to go for any compromise over the matter. As the group has its relatively strong support base within the ruling camp as well, it turns out to be difficult for the government in times to reject its demand outrightly.

It was pressure from the pro-sanction lobby that prompted the government last month to discuss the possibility of compiling a bill that would ban entry into Japanese ports of ships that Tokyo considers posing a threat to public security. The target of the proposed bill was the North Korean ship that makes regular trips linking Japan and North Korea. A ban on the ship's entry would deal a severe blow to North Korea because in addition to cargo and passengers, it is also believed to be carrying much needed hard currency for Pyongyang. But the ruling coalition later decided to shelve the plan of compiling the bill until the second round of the six-nation talks end in Beijing.

Now with the end of the talk that failed to show meaningful progress, the demand to enact a law to impose ban on North Korea as a punitive measure for failing to cooperate in solving the abduction issue is back again. There even has been a consensus among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan about the rationale of imposing an economic sanction against Pyongyang. But the government seems to be in support of buying more time before taking any drastic measure and the prime minister fought off calls to impose economic sanctions by saying that it is always good to solve such issues through dialogue without resorting to harsh measures like economic sanctions.

The cautious standing of the prime minister indicates that he is ready to wait for another chance in the form of the third round of six-way talks before enacting a law that might further complicate the situation, as Japan has already passed legislation so that it can slap economic sanctions on North Korea including suspension of cash remittances.