Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gives a brief statement to reporters following a meeting at his official residence in Tokyo Thursday, July 3, 2014.(Photo: AP)
BEIJING – North Korea's frequent rocket launches won't get the isolated regime the prosperity and security it claims to seek, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman warned Wednesday. A day earlier, South Korea rejected North Korea's surprise proposal to suspend military hostilities.
But Pyongyang heard some good news this week, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his government's decision Thursday to lift some of Japan's bilateral sanctions on North Korea.
The move does not affect wider and more significant United Nations sanctions aimed at stopping North Korea's nuclear program.
Tokyo is acting in response to the North's agreement to establish a high-level committee to reinvestigate the cases of Japanese citizens abducted and taken to North Korea decades ago by North Korean agents. The issue remains a highly emotional one in Japan, where many believe hundreds of citizens were abducted.
North Korea has given Japan the names of at least 10 Japanese nationals said to be living in North Korea, including some suspected abductees, the Nikkei business daily said Thursday, reported the Reuters news agency. Japan has previously demanded an investigation into at least 12 abduction cases.
STORY: The stories of 12 Japanese abducted by North Korea
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"Under the principle of matching action with action, Japan will lift a portion of its sanctions" on North Korea, Abe said Thursday.
The sanctions that are expected to be lifted, after the Cabinet formally approves the decision Friday, include travel bans and restrictions on money transfers. Port calls by North Korean ships, currently banned, may be permitted for humanitarian purposes.
Abe's move restarts the diplomatic efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who traveled to Pyongyang to discuss the abductees in 2004, said Masao Okonogi, an expert on the Korean peninsula at Japan's Kyushu University. "It's a very risky decision," he said.
The North Korean committee must report the results of its investigation in about three months, said Okonogi. "We can't guess how much will satisfy the Japanese public opinion, maybe it's impossible to satisfy," he said. The involvement of top leaders will add weight to the process, but Okonogi doubts this potential breakthrough will lead to a substantial warming of ties.
North Korea seeks large-scale economic assistance, compensation for Japan's colonization of Korea, and normalization of relations, but Abe is unlikely to agree, he said.
"We can't expect such a conservative man would do that, it's almost the same as U.S. President Nixon going to Beijing," said Okonogi. But to achieve real progress, Abe must visit North Korea, he said.
Some analysts were skeptical about the timing of the sanctions announcement, two days after a major shift in security policy that will allow Japan's military to defend allies under attack.
"The 'revelation' that there are more than 10 survivors is encouraging but the timing seems to divert attention away from Abe's extremely unpopular coup against Japan's postwar pacifist order," Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asia studies at Temple University's Japan campus, told Reuters.
North Korea will not abolish its nuclear and long-range missile programs, but could promise to freeze them as it seeks a restart of multi-lateral negotiations known as the Six Party Talks, said Okonogi. Those talks are unlikely to begin again soon, and first require further talks between North and South Korea, he said.
Tuesday, Seoul turned down Pyongyang's proposal to cease military hostilities, arguing that North Korea must first show its commitment to ending its nuclear weapons program, said Yonhap, a South Korean news agency.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Seoul Thursday for talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye that should include North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
In a possible reflection of Beijing's displeasure with North Korea, whose regime relies on support from China, Xi is visiting the South first, unlike previous Chinese Presidents.
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