Tokyo, 16 September, /AJMEDIA/
North Korea has criticized Japan for actions it says nullifies the historic 2002 Pyongyang Declaration, under which the two countries agreed to make efforts toward normalizing ties, state-run media said Friday ahead of the 20th anniversary of the accord’s signing.
Song Il Ho, North Korea’s ambassador responsible for negotiations to normalize the relationship with Japan, said in a statement Thursday that Tokyo has rendered the accord “null and void” due to sanctions linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs and “pushed the bilateral ties to the lowest ebb of confrontation,” the report said.
The envoy also reiterated the issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s has been “already resolved” in the statement issued before Saturday’s anniversary, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Song stressed that the prospects for a shift in bilateral ties “entirely depends on the attitude of the Japanese government.”
During a historic visit to North Korea by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Sept. 17, 2002, then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted that his nation had abducted Japanese nationals. Five were repatriated the following month.
The Pyongyang Declaration also stipulates that Japan will extend economic cooperation to the North after ties are normalized. But bilateral ties subsequently deteriorated as a rift deepened over the issue of other abductees.
Japan claims that 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents and suspects Pyongyang was involved in many more disappearances. The North urges Japan to atone for its past military occupation and colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.