Move tied to promise of investigation into alleged abductions and war dead

Japan took a tentative step toward improved relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Friday by agreeing to lift some of its sanctions, as Pyongyang announced the details of a new probe into the fate of at least a dozen Japanese believed to have been abducted by DPRK agents decades ago.

The Japanese Cabinet approved easing sanctions in three areas. It lifted a ban on DPRK citizens visiting Japan, allowing them on a case-by-case basis, and made it easier for Japanese and ethnic Koreans in Japan to travel to the DPRK. It also raised the reporting limit for money taken or sent to the DPRK. Third, it approved port calls by DPRK-flagged ships for humanitarian purposes, limited to the delivery of food, medicine and clothes in small amounts.

Japanese officials say the eased sanctions will not give a significant economic boost to Pyongyang or weaken the impact of international efforts to punish and isolate the DPRK for its nuclear weapons development.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he was satisfied that a DPRK investigation committee has the mandate to carry out a serious investigation into the abductions, though previous deals with the DPRK have fallen through. Japan will continue to abide by UN sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.

"We have determined that an unprecedented framework has been established, where an organization that can make decisions at a national level ... will be at the forefront of the investigations," Abe said. "However, this is only a start. We are determined to do everything we can, with a renewed effort, toward a comprehensive resolution."

Pyongyang, in a report by its Korean Central News Agency, announced a wide-ranging investigation that will look into not only the abductees but also the remains of thousands of Japanese who died in Korea at the end of World War II, as well as any survivors from that era. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

The special investigation committee will have about 30 members and be chaired by So Tae-ha, the DPRK's vice-minister of State Security. It will research register books of citizens, interview witnesses and make site visits in what the DPRK news agency called "an all-inclusive and comprehensive investigation".

The announcements followed talks between the DPRK and Japanese negotiators in Beijing earlier this week.

Pyongyang has demanded that Japan do more to atone for its past harsh colonization, when it attempted to suppress Korean culture and forced people to work in Japanese mines and factories.

"For the normalization of relations between our two countries, I think that Japan has to settle the problems of its past," Ro Hyon-a, a DPRK citizen, said in Pyongyang.

In Seoul, Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said the Republic of Korea looks forward to an early resolution of the abduction issue. But he said any steps taken by Japan shouldn't undermine international cooperation on the DPRK nuclear and missile standoffs.

"The government of the Republic of Korea once again stresses that the Japan-North Korea consultations, including on easing Japan's unilateral sanctions on North Korea, should, by all means, be held in a transparent manner and that all the relevant measures by Japan should be taken in a way that does not undermine the coordination among the ROK, the US and Japan on North Korea's nuclear and missile issues," Noh said at a news conference.

(China Daily 07/05/2014 page8)