Oct 12 02:47 AM US/EasternTOKYO, Oct. 12 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The U.S. delisting of North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism would not pose an impediment to resolving the issue of Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese nationals, Prime Minister Taro Aso said Sunday.
"We would be able to hold sufficient discussions on the abductions in the process of negotiations to come. It does not mean a loss of leverage," Aso told reporters in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
He showed some acceptance of the removal, saying, "I understand that they took the step, considering it would be better than leaving an issue totally immovable to do things in a proper way. It's one way."
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone released a statement earlier Sunday in response to Washington's removal of Pyongyang from its list of terrorism-sponsoring states.
"Japan will do its utmost, in close cooperation with the United States and other countries concerned, to push forward Japan-North Korea relations, including the abduction issue, alongside the nuclear issue," Nakasone said in the statement.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, who is minister in charge of the abduction issue, said Sunday, "Japan has no reluctance to cooperate in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, we have a strong feeling that the abduction issue should not be left out. We will take up the issue without fail in the six-party talks."
Foreign Minister Nakasone also expressed hopes of cooperating with other members of the six-party talks to adopt an agreement at an early date on the specifics of a protocol for verifying North Korea's nuclear programs and facilities based on a deal reached between the United States and North Korea.
"Japan believes that in order to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which is the goal of the six-party talks, it is extremely important to build a concrete framework for effective verification," Nakasone said.
Kawamura told reporters in Tokyo, "Our policy on the abduction issue will not be set back even by one step. They must set up a responsible reinvestigation committee as early as possible."
North Korea has yet to act on its promise to launch a committee to reinvestigate the abductions.
Tokyo had urged the United States to refrain from taking North Korea off the list of terrorist-sponsoring states until progress had been made on the issue of the abductions of Japanese by Pyongyang's agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
But the United States announced Saturday its removal of North Korea from the list for the first time in 20 years in light of progress on the denuclearization process, saying that Pyongyang agreed to a series of measures to verify its nuclear activities.
Nakasone noted in the statement that U.S. President George W. Bush expressed to Japanese Prime Minister Aso in a phone call prior to the announcement his understanding of the strong concerns among the Japanese public and his sympathy with the families of the missing abductees.
The six-party nuclear talks involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
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