Japanese Defense Chief Questions Nuke Talks Progress at Summit

Japan's Minister of Defense Yuriko Koike listens to a question during a discussion U.S.-Japan alliance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, August 9, 2007. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas


Japanese Defense Chief Questions Nuke Talks Progress at Summit

The Japanese defense chief said Thursday her government will closely watch the outcome of the inter-Korean summit later this month, especially how much progress will be made on the North Korean nuclear issue, Yonhap News reported in Washington.
"I think that in the course of dialogue, various arguments will be presented," Yonhap quoted Defense Minister Yuriko Koike as telling the audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies during her visit to Washington.
"I am not sure how far these discussions will actually lead to the solving of the nuclear issue," she said through a translator.
"The question is how, to what degree there will be fruitful dialogue that will lead to the solution."
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will travel to Pyongyang Aug. 28-30 to meet North Korea's top leader, Kim Jong-il, the second inter-Korean summit since the national division at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The first was held in June 2000 between Roh's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, and the North Korean
leader.
The two Koreas are technically still at war, having signed only an armistice.
Japan is a member of the so-called six-party process, a multilateral forum aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. The two Koreas, the U.S., China and Russia are the other participants.
North Korean-Japanese relations are the most strained among the six countries as Tokyo presses Pyongyang to account for Japanese citizens it admitted to kidnapping in the past to train spies.
Japan says it will not contribute to any aid package to the North unless the abduction issue is first resolved.
Koike described the inter-Korean summit as within the context of the six-party talks, an emphasis also made by the U.S.
Coming out of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Koike quoted the secretary as saying that the U.S. would also be closely watching the results of the Korean summit.
Rice hopes that the summit will contribute to and have a positive influence on the six-party talks, Koike told reporters.
Rice also said she wants to see the abduction issue resolved, according to Koike.