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North Korea reportedly made several suggestions for normalizing ties with Japan in the first round of fresh bilateral working-level talks in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura is to make an announcement on the matter on Friday.
After a two-day meeting with Song Il-ho, North Korea's envoy to the talks, Akitaka Saiki, Japan's chief negotiator to six-party nuclear talks, on Thursday told reporters Machimura will make the announcement after a briefing by the Foreign Ministry.
In an official briefing after the meeting on Thursday, Saiki said dialogue with Song was ¡°constructive and sincere¡±, and he fully explained the Japanese position on the issue of North Korea¡¯s kidnapping of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 80s. Saiki said he also highlighted the need to repatriate four Japanese Red Army members who remain in North Korea since their involvement in a jet hijacking in 1970.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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