North Korea Foreign Ministry’s Memorandum on the Abduction Issue

July 30, 2007

On July 19, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea released a memorandum on the abduction issue.
The Government of Japan can never accept this memorandum as it reiterates the North Korean position that the abduction issue has already been resolved and the memorandum makes unilateral allegations, distorting many facts concerning the abduction issue.
At the consultation between the head of delegation of Japan and that of North Korea which took place during the Head of Delegation Meeting of the Six-Party Talks held in Beijing till July 20, they concluded that although both the Six-Party Talks and Japan-North Korea relations had their difficulties, Japan and North Korea would both make efforts toward the resolution of these problems. The memorandum is incompatible with such goodwill.
The Government of Japan full-heartedly hopes that the North Korean side will sincerely respond to the outstanding issues of concern between Japan and North Korea including the abduction issue, which concerns people’s lives, human rights, and sovereignty, and that meaningful discussions will be held at the Working Group for the Normalization of Japan-North Korea relations to be held by the end of August.

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