New Conflict Brewing up Between North Korea and Japan

A new conflict is brewing up between North Korea and Japan. North and Japan are disagreeing over how to handle the five Japanese temporarily visiting Japan, who were previously kidnapped by North Korea.

North and Japan held talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to discuss the normalization of relations. But the talks ended up without any results. Previously, the Japanese government set up an organization under the control of Chief Cabinet Secretary to deal with the issues regarding the 5 kidnapped Japanese. Now, it has turned the organization into a permanent official agency in preparation for marathon negotiation.

Japan has confirmed its position against returning them back to North Korea. In accordance with the position, the Japanese government decided to earmark a separate budget for that purpose. The 5 Japanese, who temporarily returned to Japan leaving their North Korean families behind, are not allowed to meet their families again due to the deadlock in the normalization talks. Even if the next talks are to be held near the end of November, they have to live apart from their husband, wife or children until that time.

The Japan government originally intended to cut a deal with North to have the remaining family members come over to Japan. With the talks halted, however, it is in quagmire. Initially, the government, with the support of the Japanese public, thought that it could easily have the remaining family members over to Japan by pressuring the North, with the 5 Japanese remaining in Japan. But the plan backfired on the Japanese government.

North Korea, in response, is strongly demanding the return of the visiting Japanese. It argues that the Japanese government should keep its promise that it would return the kidnapped Japanese after 1-2 weeks. North also says that it is up to each individual`s decision whether to settle in Japan. Therefore, the Japanese government has to worry about a criticism that it is forcefully separating the kidnapped from their families for the second time in their life. The visiting Japanese kept saying that they want to meet their families as soon as possible. By saying this, they are sending a double message to the Japanese and North Korean government. To North, they are telling that it should allow their family members to come to Japan as early as possible. To Japan, they are telling that the Japanese government should not hinder them from going back to Pyongyang. Hasike Kaoru (45), one of the five visiting Japanese, reportedly just kept silence and did not make any comments on the breaking-up of the normalization talks. His silence seems to symbolize their dilemma that they cannot choose one over the other.

hanscho@donga.com