North Korea start talks in Mongolia to hammer out old and new problems:
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Japan and North Korea ended the first day of talks on Wednesday on establishing diplomatic ties, with a Japanese envoy saying he had had “meaningful” discussions with North Koreans.
Japanese and North Korean envoys expressed guarded optimism as they met in the Mongolian capital, after Washington and Pyongyang appeared to move forward in similar discussions at the weekend.
“We had meaningful exchanges of views to deepen mutual understanding,” Japan’s chief negotiator, Yoshiki Mine, told reporters.
In all, it looks like it is the beginning of long talks, but it is going to be a long row to hoe:
Japan insists it cannot normalize relations without resolving the abduction issue and has urged the United States not to strike North Korea from the list or lift the associated sanctions until the abductees are accounted for.
Pyongyang admitted in 2002 to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to help train its spies.
Five have since returned to Japan and North Korea says the others are dead. It has so far insisted the issue is closed and is demanding compensation from Japan for its sometimes brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula.
That is going to be much easier said than done. Let’s hope the issue is resolved so the six party talks can be resolved somehow, but honestly, there are too many sticky issues to make everybody happy. Will North Korea say who else is kidnapped and bring them home? Are those people dead or in a gulag somewhere? It is hard to say. However, billions to Pyongyang may be tempting. Time will only tell on this one.
Developing…
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