THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2002
WORLD
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN * 11A
North Korea, Japan end talks without accord on weapons
The Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Dashing hopes for a thaw in a bitter rivalry, North Korea yesterday rebuffed Japan's demands to halt its nuclear weapons program and repatriate five kidnapped Japanese citizens and their families.
After completing two days of acrimonious talks over whether and how to establish diplomatic ties, delegations from the two countries acknowledged they agreed on virtually nothing. Instead, North Korea accused Japan of allowing distrust to sour the negotiations.
Japan countered that the North Koreans showed no willingness to compromise.
Even though no new negotiations have been scheduled with the North, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday that Japan would still be talking with Pyongyang in the interim to ensure their repatriation. He also said Japan would keep pressuring its communist neighbor to scrap
its nuclear weapons program.
"There were no great successes," Fukuda said. "But as was indicated in the outcome, we agreed to put forward efforts toward solving the dividing issues."
During the talks, the first in two years, Tokyo stressed that its demands on nuclear and repatriation issues had to be resolved before pursuing the normalization of relations or economic aid for impoverished North Korea.
But North Korea refused to comply, insisting normalization and economic aid come first.
"Unfortunately, we saw no change in the North's position," said Katsunari Suzuki, chief of the Japanese delegation. "We are very disappointed by this."
The talks followed an unprecedented summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang last month.
"It's just the beginning, and it takes both of our efforts,"
Koizumi told reporters in Tokyo after the talks. "Both of us at least are eager to continue talks, and we just have to be patient."
But it was not clear if the talks would indeed continue. The North proposed a new round next month, but Suzuki said Japan would answer at a later date.
The two countries agreed only on the framework for a planned working-level panel on security issues — the creation of which was agreed to at the Sept. 17 summit. Suzuki said it would be put in place next month, but offered no further details.
Japan demanded the North scrap efforts to develop nuclear weapons in keeping with the summit agreement for both sides to seek peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Suzuki said the North expressed an "understanding of Japan's position" but repeated its argument that the problem can only be resolved through talks with the United States.
Japan also called on the North to abandon its deployment of
long-range missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in Japan and as far away as Alaska and Guam. The missiles are believed to be capable of carrying warheads at least as powerful as the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs.
North Korea has long justified efforts to bolster its military by claiming the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea poses a threat to its security.
"We have no need to offer excuses," North Korean delegate Pak Ryong Yeon said.
the nuclear issue has increased global tension, but the fate of the Japanese abducted by North Korea remains the immediate focus for Japan.
Kim's surprise confession last month that North Korean spies abducted at least 13 Japanese in the 1970s and '80s, though initially welcomed as a sign of openness, has since mushroomed into an emotional confrontation between the two governments.
Body of slain U.S. diplomat sent home
The Associated Press
AMMAN, Jordan — The body of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley was flown to the United States yesterday after bagpipes played mournfully at a grim airport ceremony, but Jordanian investigators reported no progress in tracking down his killer.
Diplomats fought back tears as U.S. Marines and embassy colleagues carried Foley's flag-draped coffin from a black hearse onto a slate-gray U.S. Air Force C-141 military transport at Amman's airport.
Foley, 60, was shot by a lone gunman at close range Monday in front of his home in Amman. The gunman escaped. Police rounded up dozens of Islamic militants for questioning in the shooting, the first such deadly attack on an American diplomat in decades.
Minister of Planning and Development Bassem Awadallah praised Foley, who worked with the U.S. aid agency office in Amman, for his devotion to improving the lives of poor Jordanians.
Jordanian officials have said the slaying was aimed at destabilizing Jordan and harming its close relations with the United States.
"We must see to it that the intended consequences of this despicable act are never materialized." Awadallah said.
U. S. Ambassador Edward Gnehm also reaffirmed the "abiding bonds" between Jordan and the United States. "Together we will confront those who would seek to damage those ties," he said.
During the ceremony, a Jordanian army honor guard in olive-green dress uniforms and
red headscarves stood stiffly at attention as the military band played.
Foley's widow, Virginia, wearing a Palestinian cross-stitch sweater that was a gift from her husband, hugged embassy staff and friends before boarding the plane with the coffin and the couple's golden retriever. Bogart.
The plane then departed for Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, with a refueling stop in Germany.
Jordanian government and military officials, along with Prince Faisal, brother of King Abdullah II, attended the ceremony to offer their condolences. The king and his wife, Queen Rania, visited the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday to sign a condolence book and meet briefly with Foley's widow.
U. S. and Jordanian investiga
tors have been working together, but no leads were reported, despite the interrogation of the Islamic extremists.
"We are questioning all individuals and groups" known to police, Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Affash Adwan told The Associated Press.
A Jordanian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said most of those detained were Jordanians of Palestinian origin who belonged to militant Islamic cells, known for virulently anti-American views.
Jordan's largest Muslim opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, yesterday condemned Foley's slaying as a "sinful aggression" that violated Islamic law and "threatens Jordan's security and stability," but charged that U.S. policy in the region was to blame.
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