Relations
between
North Korea and Japan sour further
2001.12.09 REUTERS, TOKYO
Japan yesterday slammed North Korea for suspending an investigation
into missing Japanese nationals whom Tokyo says were abducted
by North Korean agents.
"North Korea's decision is deplorable," Japan's top
government spokesman, Yasuo Fukuda, told a news conference.
"We will continue to ask North Korea to handle the issue
in a sincere manner," Fukuda, the chief cabinet secretary,
added.
The two countries have no diplomatic ties.
They have held talks aimed on normalizing relations but Japan
has made that dependent on progress on the issue of the 10 Japanese
citizens it alleges were abducted by North Korean agents in
the 1960s and 1970s.
North Korea has denied the abductions but agreed in the talks,
which resumed in April last year, to investigate the fate of
the missing Japanese.
On Monday, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA) said the investigation had been suspended.
"The Japanese side's fuss about
'kidnapping' has done harm to the dignified DPRK [North Korea]
and extremely provoked the Korean people, thus creating great
difficulties in the investigation into 'missing persons,'"
the KCNA report said.
"It has made it impossible for us to go ahead with this
work any longer."
Pyongyang's decision comes amid its stepped-up criticism of
the Japanese government for arresting a senior official at North
Korea's de facto embassy in Tokyo in an embezzlement case.
Tokyo police last month arrested Kang Young-kwan, a 66-year-old
executive of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean
Residents in Japan (Chongryon), and five officials of the bankrupt
Chogin Tokyo credit union on suspicion of embezzlement.
Police also raided the Chongryon headquarters.
North Korea lambasted the moves using its official media, calling
them acts of "suppression."
Analysts said the suspension of the probe of missing Japanese
was just another expression of displeasure by Pyongyang.
"It's a form of retaliation … It's clearly not happy with
the embezzlement case," said Noriyuki Suzuki, director
at Radiopress news agency, which specializes in monitoring North
Korean media.
North Korean officials are closely watching the case due to
the strong ties between Pyongyang and Chongryon, Suzuki said.
Chongryon, whose officials regularly visit Pyongyang and its
supporters are widely believed to be key sources of foreign
currency for cash-strapped North Korea.
The Japanese government does not disclose
figures, but has in the past acknowledges that some¥180 billion
to¥200 billion (US$1.41 billion-US$1.57 billion) flows to Pyongyang
annually, mostly in the form of remittances by Koreans who live
in Japan.
Kang, who was indicted yesterday, had headed Chongryon's financial
bureau from 1993 to 1999 and is now a member of the organization's
central standing committee.
While there have been no revelations into the use of embezzled
funds, Suzuki said that if the flow of funds from Chongryorr
to Pyongyang surface, it will severely damage the normalization
talks between Japan and North Korea.