U.S. calls for `transparency` in Japan-N. Korea negotiations
The U.S. government said on Thursday that it supports the agreement between Japan and North Korea to re-investigate Pyongyang`s abduction of Japanese citizens.
“We continue to support Japanese efforts to resolve the abductions issue in a transparent manner,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing.
-snip-
U.S. experts think that the Tokyo-Pyongyang negotiation process will likely be rough. Frank Jannuzi, president and CEO of the Mansfield Foundation, told the Voice of America that if the North conducts a nuclear test or makes a missile provocation, the implementation of the agreement will be affected and that it would not be easy to maintain the dialogue channel with the North. Alan Romberg, a senior researcher at the Stimson Center, noted that while Pyongyang will likely seek to use improved ties with Tokyo as a springboard for the resumption of the six-party denuclearization talks, it is hard to predict how the re-investigation of the abduction issue will end up.
To read the full article, click here.