by Shaun TandonSat April 18, 2009 1:29 am ET
AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who built his career campaigning against North Korea, has added his voice to calls for the United States to talk directly to Pyongyang if it helps solve the current crisis.
North Korea this week stormed out of six-nation disarmament talks and vowed to restart its nuclear program to protest a UN statement condemning it for test-firing a rocket over Japan.
The communist state has long sought bilateral talks with the United States, which has held direct talks with Pyongyang but insisted that any deals come through the six-way talks launched in 2003.
Photo: Shinzo Abe delivers the opening speech of the "Hannover Messe 2008" technology fair in 2008 at the fairgrounds in Hanover. Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who built his career campaigning against North Korea, said Friday the United States should talk directly to Pyongyang if it helps solve the current crisis.President Barack Obama's administration says it still supports the six-way talks which bring onboard Japan and South Korea -- close US allies -- along with China and Russia, seen as having some influence over the North.
"Japan is not opposed to the idea of direct talks between the United States and North Korea," Abe told the Brookings Institution think-tank on a visit to Washington on Friday, where he met with Vice President Joe Biden.
The conservative ex-premier said Japan's priority was to end North Korea's nuclear program and to resolve a row over Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s to train the regime's spies.
"If there is anything that can contribute to the resolution of these issues, then we would be in favor of talks between North Korea and the United States," Abe said.
But he warned that "the North Koreans like to play games."
"The North Koreans may promise to talk to the United States and then later say, 'Well, we're not going to,' and thereby try to get some reward," Abe said.
North Korea had repeatedly demanded that Japan be kicked out of the six-nation talks for bringing up the abduction issue. But the North pledged to reinvestigate the fate of kidnap victims under the framework of a six-nation 2007 denuclearization accord -- which Pyongyang now says is void.
Abe, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and remains a lawmaker, rose to political prominence as an advocate for abductees' families.
North Korea returned five kidnap victims in 2002 and says the rest are dead; Japan believes at least 12 more are alive.
Abe said North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il must repatriate all abductees.
"To Kim Jong-Il, I say this -- Japan will simply never give in. Don't play games with us as there is no room for compromise," Abe said.
Abe's remarks come after China, the host of the six-nation talks, also said it would welcome bilateral talks between the United States and the North Korea.
"We hope that the United States and North Korea will improve their relationship and develop it," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Japan's Nikkei daily in an interview published earlier Friday.
Some analysts believe China is seeking a more active role by the United States as its own influence wanes over Pyongyang.
Abe flew to China days after becoming prime minister in 2006, launching a reconciliation drive after years of friction between Asia's two largest economies.
"I can now admit it was fun to disappoint those pundits who had argued for some time that Shinzo Abe, as prime minister, would damage Japan-China relations," he said.
But the now former prime minister did not hesitate Friday to voice concern about China, saying Japan and the United States should press Beijing to be more transparent about its rapidly growing military budget.
"For its neighbors, China poses great uncertainties," Abe said. "Its defense programs, economic management, environmental damage and it society -- which is being shaken by the mounting frustration of the poor segment of its population -- are all reasons for concern."
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