In Brief

North Korea has promised to reopen its investigation into Japanese abducted by state agents and cooperate in handing over four hijackers holed up in Pyongyang since 1970 after they commandeered a Japan Air Lines plane on a domestic flight.

Akitaka Saiki, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, reported back to Tokyo yesteday on the outcome of two days of bilateral talks in Beijing between delegations of the two countries. Saiki headed the Japanese side.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura immediately announced that Japan would partially lift its economic sanctions against North Korea.

In an upbeat comment, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said yesterday: ‘North Korea has shown a willingness for discussion. We can say we are at the entrance to the negotiation process.’

These developments in bilateral negotiations between Japan and the DPRK are important to progress with the Six Party Talks about which US Ambassador Christopher Hill has been increasingly upbeat recently.

Pyongyang’s stance on the abduction issue is clearly aimed at spurring the United States to lift its designation of North Korea as a state that sponsors terrorism

See this Japan Times report for more.