N. Korea says Japan talks to go ahead regardless of 6-way process
December 26, 2005North Korea plans to hold talks with Japan in January as planned, regardless of whether or not the six-party talks on its nuclear programs resume in the near future, a North Korean Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday. Song Il Ho, who headed the country's delegation to its weekend working-level talks with Japan, made the comments to reporters at Beijing's international airport shortly before leaving for Pyongyang.
Nukaga to visit Washington in Jan. for talks with Rumsfeld
December 26, 2005Japanese Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga will visit Washington in late January to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss the planned realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, informed sources said Monday. It will be Nukaga's first visit to the United States since he assumed the post in October.
Japan, China agree to continue talks over U.N. reform
December 26, 2005Japan and China, which have been at odds over Japan's bid for permanent membership in the U.N. Security Council, agreed Monday in their first high-level talks on the matter that they should continue bilateral discussions, a Japanese official said. Japanese Deputy Vice Minister for Foreign Policy Masaharu Kono and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qiao Zonghuai reached the agreement in talks in the Chinese capital, the Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
Japan won't normalize ties with N. Korea unless abductions resolved
December 26, 2005Japan will not normalize diplomatic ties with North Korea unless the issue of the country's past abduction of Japanese nationals is resolved, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe reiterated Monday, a day after the two sides agreed to resume normalization talks. ''We do have a basic and well-established principle that there will be no normalization of diplomatic relations without a resolution of the abduction issue,'' Abe, the top government spokesman, told a press conference.
N. Korea reports contents of agreement with Japan
December 26, 2005North Korean media on Monday reported the contents of an agreement between Japan and North Korea reached at bilateral discussions over the weekend in Beijing. The official Korean Central News Agency said both sides ''had an exhaustive exchange of views on issues of mutual concern.''
Gov't panel adopts basic plan for supporting crime victims
December 26, 2005A government panel adopted a basic plan Monday encompassing 258 measures to help crime victims, government officials said. The plan, to be formally endorsed at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, calls for a government feasibility study on the introduction of a system to allow victims to use facts proven at a criminal trial as evidence in a civil lawsuit to demand the perpetrators pay compensation.
Used home electric appliances illegally exported to N. Korea
December 26, 2005Japanese police said Monday a Japanese businessman and a Chinese trader have been found to have exported a number of used home electric appliances to North Korea in November 2004 and January this year without acquiring a government permit under the Customs Law. The police have referred the case to the Finance Ministry's Yokohama Customs which plans to take punitive administrative action against the Japanese man, a 30-year-old resident of Yokohama. The 36-year-old Chinese trader has already left Japan, the police said.
Japan won't normalize ties with N. Korea unless abductions resolved
December 26, 2005Japan will not normalize diplomatic ties with North Korea unless the abduction issue is resolved, Tokyo's top spokesman reiterated Monday, a day after the two sides agreed to resume normalization talks. ''We do have a basic and well-established principle that there will be no normalization of diplomatic relations without a resolution of the abduction issue,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a press conference.