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NKorea delisting 'regrettable'
11/10/2008 22:46 - (SA)
Linda Sieg
Tokyo - Japan's finance minister called
the United States' removal of North Korea from its terrorism
blacklist as "extremely regrettable" and families of Japanese
seized by Pyongyang expressed outrage and sorrow over the move,
Kyodo news agency reported.
The United States, seeking to revive faltering
denuclearisation talks in the final months of the Bush
administration, on Saturday removed North Korea from its
terrorism blacklist after Pyongyang agreed to verification
measures of its nuclear facilities.
Taking Pyongyang off the list was held up by Tokyo's
objections until the issue of the abduction of Japanese
nationals - an emotive topic in Japan - was addressed.
Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa called the US decision
"extremely regrettable" and said he doubted that Washington had
consulted its ally Japan about the move in advance, Kyodo said.
'Shocked'
"I believe abductions amount to terrorist acts. I talked
with the Yokotas over the phone a while ago and they were very
shocked," Nakagawa told reporters in Washington, referring to
the parents of perhaps the best-known abductee, Megumi Yokota.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Tokyo would
work with Washington to resolve the abductees issue and called
for a strict system of verification of the North's nuclear
facilities.
"Japan will do its utmost, in close cooperation with the
United States and other countries concerned, to push forward
Japan-North Korea relations, including the abduction issue,
alongside the nuclear issue," Nakasone said in a statement.
"Japan believes that in order to denuclearise the Korean
Peninsula, which is the goal of the six-party talks, it is
extremely important to build a concrete framework for effective
verification," he added.
A White House spokesperson said earlier that US President
George W Bush had spoken to Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on
Saturday and reaffirmed support for Japan on the abduction of
its citizens.
Relatives of the abductees
Nakagawa, a former head of a lawmakers group devoted to
resolving the abductees issue, was in Washington for a meeting
of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers.
Relatives of the abductees, who were snatched from their
homes decades ago to help train North Korean spies in language
and culture, expressed outrage and sorrow and urged their own
government to do more to resolve the problem.
"I cannot help feeling empty because everything is decided
somewhere beyond our reach. I feel completely helpless," Kyodo
quoted Shigeo Iizuka, 70, who heads a group of abductees'
families, as saying.
"As we have lost a great card for making progress on the
abduction issue, the Japanese government has to hammer out steps
that are just as strong" as the impact of the United States
having North Korea on its blacklist, Iizuka added.
Teruaki Masumoto, 53-year-old secretary general of the
family group, described the US move as a "betrayal" of Japan
and criticised the Japanese government for failing to persuade
Washington not to remove Pyongyang from the list, Kyodo said.
- Reuters
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