[Vnbiz] North Korea: Talks with Japan canceled

[Phan, Tai]

North Korea: Talks with Japan canceled
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated: 03/07/2007 12:45:49 AM MST


HANOI, Vietnam- Bilateral talks between North Korea and Japan aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations-a key part of Pyongyang's agreement to shut down its nuclear program-have been canceled, the North Korean Embassy said Wednesday. 
The embassy did not provide a reason for the abrupt move, which came hours after the start of the talks. 

The talks were mandated by a February agreement between North and South Korea, China, the United States and Russia in which North Korea said it would close down its nuclear reactor in return for energy aid and other incentives. 

A North Korean embassy official in the Vietnamese capital who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said Wednesday that the meeting was finished and that there would be no more sessions. He did not elaborate. 

North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens and Japanese reparations for its wartime aggression were to top the agenda at two-day talks in Vietnam, which came after a one-year lapse. 

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official traveling with the delegation said North Korea had informed them that an afternoon session to be held at the North Korean embassy in Hanoi would not be held as planned. A media availability also was canceled. 

Japan has refused to give energy aid to North Korea or normalize relations with Pyongyang until it resolves the issue of its abductions of Japanese citizens-an emotional dispute that has divided the two nations. 

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it abducted 13 Japanese from the Japanese coast in the 1970s and 80s. Pyongyang sent five of them home later that year but insisted that the rest were dead. Japan has demanded proof and says more of its citizens may have been taken. Pyongyang has claimed the abduction issue is finished. 

Japan has yet to formally apologize to North Korea for its wartime actions-including forcing thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery-because of the lack of diplomatic ties between the two countries. 

The Hanoi talks were among five sets of working-group meetings this week scheduled to meet within 30 days of the February agreement.