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Japan, N Korea talks falter
08/03/2007 10:48 - (SA)
Hanoi - Talks between Japan and North Korea on normalising ties ended after just 45 minutes on Thursday, with the two sides only agreeing that they should meet again, Japan's delegation said.
There was no agreement on the key issues blocking diplomatic ties, and no further discussion is planned in Hanoi, the delegation said in a statement. No date was immediately announced for future talks.
The first day of talks also ended abruptly, on Wednesday afternoon, when North Korean negotiators reacted angrily to Japan's insistence that they must resolve the outstanding issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang before improving the countries' ties.
Heading into the talks early on Thursday at the North Korean embassy in Hanoi, top Japanese envoy Koichi Haraguchi nevertheless insisted the furore a day earlier would not stop his side from pushing the issue again. Japan is prepared to address any war reparation issues in return, he said.
"We'll stress the abductions issue once again to make sure our position reaches the leaders of the (North Korean) government," Haraguchi said, despite admitting the day before that the North Koreans thought further discussion on the issue would be "meaningless".
The two-day talks in Hanoi were mandated by a six-nation agreement in February, when North Korea pledged to shut down its nuclear reactor in return for energy aid and talks on improved relations with regional powers, including Japan and the United States.
- AP
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