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North Korea has agreed to reopen and complete an investigation of its bizarre abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s by this fall, under a deal with Japan in the framework of the six-party nuclear talks that ended in Shenyang, China on Wednesday. To ensure the trustworthiness of the investigation, the two countries agreed on three points: prompt investigation by an ˇ°authoritative committeeˇ± in North Korea; North Korea's obligation frequently to inform Japan of the interim results; and Japanese officials' verification of the results based on interviews with people concerned and visits to locations.
Japan promised to lift two kinds of sanctions on North Korea, on mutual visits and exchange of charter flights, the moment the investigation committee is launched.
If North Korea completes the investigation and Japan accepts the results, Tokyo-Pyongyang talks on normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations, which have been stalled, will probably resume and Japan will join other countries in the six-party talks in providing heavy fuel oil for North Korea. Japan has declined to help unless there is progress in the abduction issue.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said the agreement represents ˇ°progress, because we've moved toward the stage of action for action."
Kyoko Nakayama, a special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the abduction issue, said, "It's a new development for North Korea to agree to take concrete action." She speaks for the families of the abduction victims and Japanese conservatives.
A total of 48 Japanese victims will be subject to the investigation -- 12 whose abduction has been confirmed by the Japanese government, and 36 others who the Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea (COMJAN), a Japanese civic group, suspects were abducted. The Japanese government earlier officially confirmed North Korea's abduction of 17 Japanese nationals, five of whom have already returned to Japan.
Of the 12 whose abduction has been confirmed by Tokyo, Pyongyang claims eight died and four never arrived in North Korea.
North Korea agreed to reinvestigate the abduction issue and Japan to partially lift economic sanctions in June, but the two sides have been discussing verification until now.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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