NKorea says Japan not welcome at nuclear talks

SEOUL, Nov 4: North Korea today said that Japan should not bother to attend six-country talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme because it was just a territory of the United States.

Pyongyang agreed on Tuesday to return to the talks involving the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States after staying away for a year in protest over a US crackdown on its international finances.

Talks are expected to resume in the next month.

''It would be much better for Japan to refrain from participating in the six-party talks and less attendants would be not bad for making the talks fruitful,'' a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by KCNA news agency.

''It is the view of the DPRK that since the US attends the six-party talks, there is no need for Japan to participate in them as a local delegate because it is no more than a state of the US and it is enough for Tokyo just to be informed of the results of the talks by Washington.'' North Korea has feuded with Japan over the abduction of at least 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and the 1980s, and criticised Japan for raising the issue at the six-way talks.

Tokyo has been active in implementing UN sanctions after the North launched ballistic missiles in July and in moving to apply additional UN measures after Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test on October 9.

The escalation of tension, including speculation that the North may be preparing for a second nuclear test, relented when envoys from North Korea, the United States and China met secretly in Beijing on OctOBER 31 and agreed to restart the talks. Pyongyang's number two official yesterday said Washington was being given a face-saving offer from his government when the North agreed to return to the talks and that it was now the United States' turn to show good faith by working together on lifting the financial crackdown.

''The result of the six-party talks depends on the attitude of the US,'' the president of the North's assembly, Kim Yong-nam, was quoted as saying by South Korea's leftist Dmocratic Labour Party, whose delegation is visiting Pyongyang.

Washington has so far ''used the six-way talks as a campaign tactic'' instead of working to resolve the conflict between the two countries, Kim was quoted as saying.

Washington has said it had not induced the North with a change in its position, but South Korea and China have urged the United States to show ''flexibility''.

Analysts have said North Korea will push hard at the talks to gain some ground on the US financial crackdown and also resist Japan's attempt to take up the abductee issue.

The moves will potentially drive wedges among the other five parties as North Korea tries to gain a upper hand in negotiations, they said.

South Korea and China have expressed concern about Japan's insistence on discussing the abductee issue at the six-way talks.

REUTERS

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