Page 2 of 2 Japan in a bind over North
Korea By Hisane Masaki
demand for the reinvestigation, the
bilateral normalization talks will likely stall.
Japan's fear of isolation Since
the February 13 agreement at the last round of
six-party nuclear talks, key figures from China
and Russia have visited Tokyo. Chinese Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing visited Tokyo immediately
after the agreement. He said, "China
understands
that
Japan has certain 'matter of interest' regarding
North Korea," referring to Tokyo's desire to
resolve the abduction issue.
Russian Prime
Minister Mikhail Fradkov expressed Russia's
understanding of and support for Japan's policy of
not taking part in energy aid for Pyongyang until
progress is made on the abduction issue. But these
remarks by Chinese and Russian officials are
widely seen in Tokyo as nothing more than
diplomatic lip service.
There are some
concerns in Japan that if the Japan-North Korea
working group on bilateral normalization ends up
lagging behind the four other working groups
within the six-party framework, Japan may find the
abduction issue being shelved while being asked by
the other participants in the six-party talks to
contribute aid to North Korea.
Even some
within Abe's LDP call for Tokyo to ease its
get-tough policy toward North Korea. Taku
Yamasaki, the chairman of the party's research
commission on security affairs, who visited
Pyongyang in January seeking improved ties through
dialogue, released a statement immediately after
the nuclear deal at the six-party talks, in which
he said, "It's only natural for Japan to
contribute its fair share. There will be no
progress by only applying pressure."
The
possibility of removing North Korea from the US
list of state sponsors of terrorism was expected
to be brought up and discussed in two days of
working-level talks between the United States and
North Korea in New York. In April 2004, the US
added the abduction issue to an array of reasons
for including North Korea on the list.
To
be sure, discussions on the US list of
terrorism-sponsoring states could force Pyongyang
to address the abduction issue. But there are some
concerns in Japan that Washington and Pyongyang
could proceed to take North Korea off the list
without any progress on the abduction issue.
Immediately after the nuclear agreement,
US President George W Bush assured Abe in a
telephone conversation of his commitment to
resolve the abduction issue and said Japan would
not be left out in the cold. Vice President Dick
Cheney, known for his particularly hardline stance
toward Pyongyang, visited Japan a week later.
Cheney told Abe that the US respects Japan's
position and wants "to seek a resolution of the
tragic case of Japanese abductees". Cheney also
met the parents of one of the abductees.
In the latest in a series of efforts by
the Bush administration to assuage Japanese
concerns, John Negroponte, the US deputy secretary
of state, also said in Tokyo last week, "When it
comes to such issues as lifting of sanctions or
delisting North Korea from the
sponsors-of-terrorism list, those are issues that
we simply agreed to begin to discuss as part of
this process that was launched by this initial
actions agreement" at the six-party talks.
Sex-slavery issue Meanwhile,
Abe seems to have shot himself in the foot with
recent controversial remarks that were widely
taken as an attempt to evade Japan's
responsibility for Asian women forced into sex
slavery for Japanese soldiers before and during
World War II. The international uproar over his
remarks may provide North Korea with fresh
ammunition to lash out at Japan's wartime acts. It
may also result in the loss of some international
support for Japan's hardline stance on the
abduction issue.
Significantly, the
"comfort women" issue has emerged as not just a
matter between Japan and Asian nations conquered
or colonized. In the US, Democratic Congressman
Mike Honda and some powerful Republicans submitted
a non-binding draft resolution to Congress urging
the Japanese prime minister to ''formally
acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical
responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner''
for using "comfort women" before and during the
war.
Tokyo has protested the draft
resolution, saying Japanese prime ministers have
repeatedly offered apologies, but it may pass the
Congress now controlled by the Democrats since
mid-term elections last November. Four similar
bills failed to reach a full lower-chamber vote in
past years under the Republican majority.
Abe said on Monday that there is no need
for Japan to apologize again over the issue, even
in the event the US Congress passes the
resolution. "The draft resolution is not based on
objective facts, nor is it built upon the Japanese
government's responses so far,'' Abe said. But Abe
reiterated that he will maintain the government's
1993 statement acknowledging and apologizing for
the forced recruitment of ''comfort women''.
That seemed only to muddle the issue,
since the premier said there was "no evidence to
prove there was coercion", implying that the
200,000 or so comfort women voluntarily served as
prostitutes. If that is the case, why did Japan
officially apologize for its actions?
Abe's remarks drew angry protests,
especially from South Korea. Foreign Minister Song
Min-soon reacted immediately, saying Abe's remarks
were "not helpful" and that he must face up to the
truth. Abe's denial of the Japanese military's
direct involvement in the coercive recruitment of
"comfort women" came on the same day that South
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urged Japan to be
more sincere in addressing its 1910-45 colonial
rule of the Korean Peninsula.
In August
1993, then chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono, a
dovish politician who now serves as Speaker of the
House of Representatives, issued an official
government statement acknowledging Japan's
responsibility and apologizing for the issue of
"comfort women". Abe's top spokesman, Chief
Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki, stressed at a press
conference on Monday that the government's basic
stance of upholding the 1993 statement remains
unchanged.
"We do not plan to revise or
withdraw the statement,'' Shiozaki said, and
accused the media of misinterpreting Abe's
remarks. While emphasizing that the statement
acknowledges that there was coercion "in the broad
sense',' Shiozaki said the premier meant that the
Japanese military did not forcibly and physically
take women away in accordance with the "narrow
definition" of coercion.
The flare-up has
come at a particularly awkward time for Tokyo, as
it could cast doubt on Japan's claim to moral high
ground on human rights vis-a-vis North Korea, one
of the world's most repressive states. It may also
result in the loss of some international support
on the abduction issue.
Hisane
Masaki is a Tokyo-based journalist,
commentator and scholar on international politics
and economy. Masaki's e-mail address is
yiu45535@nifty.com.
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