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North Korea Admits Kidnappings

Stunning acknowledgement made during historic visit by Japanese PM 
Sept. 17, 2002
PYONGYANG, North Korea, —  In an astonishing concession at a summit with Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il confirmed Tuesday that North Korean spies kidnapped Japanese citizens decades ago, and said at least four are still alive.
 ENDING YEARS OF denials, Kim admitted about a dozen Japanese were kidnapped by North Korean agents, said it was “regrettable and would never happen again,” and added that those responsible would be punished.
 Kim’s comments opened the way for Japan and North Korea to begin long-stalled talks toward establishing diplomatic ties. Kim and Koizumi announced in a joint statement the talks would resume in October.
 “I strongly protested the abductions,” Koizumi said in a news conference, adding that Kim apologized. “Kim said it was done by elements in the military, and an investigation was underway.”
 In the joint statement, North Korea promised to continue a moratorium on missile firing through 2003, and Japan pledged economic cooperation. It did not have details.
 “This happened over decades of hostile relations and I want to talk about it frankly,” Kim was quoted as telling Koizumi by a Japanese delegation official who briefed reporters afterward. “I want to apologize and it will never be allowed to happen again.”
 
MOST SPIES DIE
 Six of the 11 Tokyo has long claimed were abducted were confirmed to be dead, while one never entered the country. North Korea also admitted that two others who disappeared in Europe had also died.
 Although one of the victims, Megumi Yokota — who disappeared when she was 13 — had died, her daughter was confirmed to be still alive in Pyongyang, the official said.
 Kim acknowledged that in the past some misguided people in his country had carried out the kidnappings to learn the Japanese language and assume their identities, the official said.
 “I am getting a big shock. When I think of the families’ feelings, the pain is unbearable,” Koizumi was quoted as telling Kim.
 How the people had died was not immediately clear. Japan demanded a thorough investigation of the deaths.

 Many other divisive issues — including the North’s suspected development of nuclear weapons and alleged spying activities off Japan’s shores — loomed over the one-day summit between Kim and Koizumi, the first ever between the two nations.
 But for the Japanese public — and Koizumi’s political career — the most volatile issue was securing the return of the 11 people who were allegedly abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.
 “We take it seriously,” North Korea’s Central News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying in a statement. “It is regrettable that these issues surfaced in the past as a product of the abnormal relationship between the (North) and Japan. We will prevent such things from happening in the future.”
 The spokesman, who was not identified by name, said North Korea is ready to help the survivors to meet with their families and Japanese officials, and take “necessary steps to let them return home or visit their hometowns if they wish.”
 
NO MORE DENIALS
 The isolated communist state had repeatedly denied the abductions but had recently promised to look for missing Japanese as a humanitarian issue.
 Japan and North Korea have never had diplomatic relations, and normalization talks fell apart two years ago over the kidnapping issue.
 The two nations had been so far apart on so many issues that many Japanese were stunned when they heard late last month that Koizumi had decided to visit North Korea — the first Japanese prime minister to do so.
 The talks, held at a guesthouse on the outskirts of this North Korean capital, started off in a friendly mood.
 “I am not only happy that the prime minister has come so early in the morning to open a new page in history in North Korean-Japanese relations but I also feel thankful as a host nation,” Kim told Koizumi at the start of the talks.

 “I am happy that you have come to Pyongyang to mend a relationship that has been called so close yet so far,” Kim said.
 Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
 
LITTLE FANFARE DURING VISIT
 Koizumi’s arrival at the airport in Pyongyang in the morning was absent of much fanfare, except for the obligatory red carpet. He was met by Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the legislative Supreme People’s Assembly and North Korea’s ceremonial head of state.
 Japanese officials have said they sense an unusual softening in North Korea’s stance recently that shows the isolated communist state may be ready to strike a deal with Tokyo. Hit by food shortages and struggling to revive a hobbled economy, North Korea is likely eager for monetary aid from Japan.
 As a U.S. ally, Japan could also provide a different sort of help.
 North Korea is increasingly worried about its tumultuous relationship with the United States after President George W. Bush branded the nation in January part of an “axis of evil,” along with Iraq and Iran, suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.
 “We sense North Korea has changed, expressing more willingness to listen to our proposals and to talk,” Foreign Ministry official Kenji Hiramatsu told reporters Monday.
 North Korea has recently stepped up dialogue with capitalist rival South Korea, engaging in sports exchanges, agreeing to reunions for families separated by the Korean War and working on a project to reconnect rail and road links across their heavily armed border.

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