Koizumi’s Visit to North Korea

On May 22, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit North Korea for a day to retrieve family members of Japanese citizens who were abducted, as stated in the Kyoto Press, May 14.

On May 14, Koizumi spoke with the representative of the new Komeito Party, Takenori Kanzaki, and conveyed his intention to re-visit North Korea and requested for understanding.

Koizumi visited North Korea in September, 2002 and adopted Pyongyang declaration, which promised to have historical N.K-Japan summit talks and the earlist diplomatic association.

Koizumi is planning to have a summit again with Kim and adopt associated documents for activating the Pyongyang declaration.

5 people who had been kidnapped to N. Korea now have lived in Japan since their return in October 2002, as a result of Kim’s admittance and apologies of the abduction of Japanese.

However, North Korean and Japanese sides oppose each other in regards to the reunion of the eight family member abductees who still remain in North Korea and to date, conferences between these countries have stopped.