BEIJING -- North Korea and Japan began talks on establishing diplomatic relations Tuesday after Red Cross negotiators from the estranged countries reached an agreement on Japanese food aid and other humanitarian issues.
The talks, taking place on neutral ground in Beijing, reflect a recent improvement in the chill that has persisted since Tokyo halted negotiations, responding to Pyongyang's test-firing of a rocket over Japan in August 1998.As talks began at the Japanese Embassy, Koreshige Anami, director general of the Asian Bureau of Japan's Foreign Ministry, shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with O Ui Rok, a director general of North Korean's Foreign Ministry.
The meeting followed an agreement signed earlier Tuesday at North Korea's boxy, Stalinist-style embassy by the head of the Japanese Red Cross delegation, Tadateru Konoe, and his North Korean counterpart, Ho Hae Ryong.
In that accord, the Japanese Red Cross agreed to propose to its government that it resume shipments of food aid to North Korean. Japan suspended the shipments after the rocket test 15 month ago.
Konoe told reporters the aid could begin as soon as March or April, the time of year when food runs perilously short in the communist country, although logistical problems had to be worked out.
North Korea is entering its fifth year of chronic food shortages and desperately needs fuel to revive its decrepit economy. Japan was providing as much as 67,000 tons of food until it froze aid shipments.
North Korea agreed to allow a resumption of visits to Japan by Japanese spouses of North Koreans, beginning next spring.
The North Korean Red Cross agreed to work with "relevant authorities" to facilitate a thorough investigation into Japanese allegations that Pyongyang's agents have kidnapped Japanese citizens. Konoe said Japan handed over a list of 10 names of people it believed were abducted and taken to North Korea.
In turn, the Japanese side agreed to look into the cases of North Koreans who disappeared before 1945 while working in Japan or for its military during Tokyo's 50-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
The agreement was delayed as North Korean officials sought final approval from their government. North Korea was apparently waiting for an aid agreement before opening talks on normalizing relations.
Still divided by Cold War animosities, Japan and North Korea have never had diplomatic relations. North Korea frequently criticizes Japan for its brutal 50-year occupation of the peninsula and for supporting the United States and rival South Korea.
Talks on normalizing ties began in 1991 but broke down in 1992 over the alleged kidnappings. Plans to resume the talks were canceled following the August 1998 rocket test.
The resumption of talks between Japan and North Korea follows breakthroughs in U.S. and South Korean dealings with Pyongyang after it agreed to stop testing missiles. In return, the United States lifted trade sanctions and South Korea has resumed cultural exchanges.