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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed his second trip to Pyongyang. Unlike with his first visit, there were no surprises this time. He returned home with the families of four abductees, a promise to arrange a reunion between a fifth abductee and her three family members in Beijing, and pledges by the North Korean leadership to continue its moratorium on missile tests. In exchange, he promised North Korea food and humanitarian aid. Although Mr. Koizumi may pay a political price for failing to get information about other purported abductees, on the more important issue of contributing to the resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis, Mr. Koizumi has served his country well.
Mr. Koizumi's visit cannot be called a breakthrough. The release of the families and the provision of aid allow the two countries to say that they are ready to implement the Pyongyang Declaration of September 2002. That process was interrupted in October 2002, when five abductees were allowed to visit their families in Japan and then refused to go back to North Korea. The resumption of normalization talks is welcome, but normalization itself is a long way off.
Mr. Koizumi's visit has its skeptics. Many considered it a distraction from the burgeoning pension-payments scandal and an attempt to secure a public relations victory before the Upper House election in July. The inability to get more information about the fate of other alleged abductees has embittered their families. The prime minister's readiness to give the North 250,000 tons of food aid and $10 million in medical assistance looks like a payoff.
Pyongyang has not done itself any favors in the process. Mr. Koizumi was treated shabbily. He was met at the airport by a midlevel functionary, there was no meal, and he had only one meeting with North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong Il. A second session was canceled. The North Korean leader promised a reinvestigation into the fates of 10 other abductees, but set no deadline. Clearly, the North Korean leadership does not understand the need to court public opinion in a democracy.
That does not mean that Pyongyang is not shrewd. The decision to release the eight family members focuses attention firmly on the United States, which must decide what to do about the desertion charges against former U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins and his two daughters refused to join his wife, Ms. Hitomi Soga, one of the abductees, in Japan for fear that Mr. Jenkins would be court-martialed. The United States has refused to drop the charges. Leniency may be problematic amid the ghastly reports of high-profile misconduct in Iraq. We urge the United States to make a political decision that would let the family be reunited. The particulars of this case ensure that leniency with Mr. Jenkins would not set an unfavorable precedent.
The release of the families and the focus on Mr. Jenkins appear to be designed to drive a wedge between the United States and Japan in the effort to deal with the crisis set off by allegations that North Korea has a secret nuclear weapons development program. Success in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions depends on the five other members of the six-party talks — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States — maintaining a united front against Pyongyang.
North Korea's overtures to Japan, as well as talk of a possible readiness to sign a peace treaty with the United States and South Korea, suggest that the united front is working; Pyongyang is feeling the squeeze. It is important that our government, and the others involved in the negotiations, remain focused on the big picture.
To that end, Mr. Koizumi's trip should be applauded. He made the case for compliance with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty directly to Mr. Kim. He got Mr. Kim to agree to the goal of a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula and to pledge to continue the moratorium on missile testing. Suspension of the law permitting sanctions against North Korea and the provision of aid demonstrate that Japan will use sticks and carrots in pursuit of its diplomatic objectives.
North Korea is working harder to divide us, but that intensified effort is a measure of the allies' success. This is no time to let up. To his credit, Mr. Koizumi did not.
The Japan Times Weekly
May 29, 2004
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年金改革関連法案は11日、衆院本会議で可決された。連立与党の自民党・公明党は法案に賛成したが、野党の民主党は法案には反対、公的年金制度の一元化を図るための修正案のみ支持した。
3党は年金一元化を含む社会保障全般の見直しのため、衆参両院に小委員会を設けることに合意した。小委員会は2007年3月までに結論を得る予定だが、一元化を支持する保証はない。
小泉首相は今回の再訪朝で、拉致被害者4人の家族を帰国させ、5人目の被害者を家族と北京で再会させることになった。首相は北朝鮮に対し食料・人道援助を、北朝鮮はミサイル発射モラトリアムの継続を約した。首相は安否不明者について情報を入手できなかったが、北朝鮮の核問題解決については一定の成果をあげた。
拉致被害者家族の帰国と、対北朝鮮援助計画は、両国の「平壌宣言」実行の意思を示している。
しかし首相の再訪朝は、国会議員の国民年金保険料未納問題から国民の注意をそらし、7月の参院選に備えるための人気取り戦術と批判された。25万トンの食糧と1000万ドルの医薬品の供与は北朝鮮に対する不正贈与にも見える。
首相と金正日総書記の会談は1回だけで、金総書記は10人の安否不明者について再調査を約したが、その期限は示さなかった。
拉致被害者、曽我ひとみさんの夫、チャールズ・ジェンキンス元米軍軍曹は、米軍に脱走容疑で追訴されるのを怖れ、娘2人との訪日を拒否した。
ジェンキンスさん訪日拒否の問題を利用して、北朝鮮は核問題に取り組む日米を分断しようとしているようだ。核問題の行方は6ヵ国協議で中国、日本、ロシア、韓国、米国の5ヵ国が北朝鮮に対し共同戦線を維持できるかどうかにかかっている。
北朝鮮の対日緊張緩和や、米韓と平和条約を締結する動きは、5ヵ国の共同戦線が機能している証拠でもある。北朝鮮は圧力を感じている。関係国は大局的見地を忘れてはならない。
その点で、首相の再訪朝は成功といえる。首相は金総書記に直接、核不拡散条約の遵守について訴え、金総書記は朝鮮半島非核化の目標に合意し、ミサイル発射モラトリアムの継続を約した。
北朝鮮経済制裁発動の停止と援助の提供は、日本が目標達成のためにアメとムチを使うことを示している。小泉首相は北朝鮮をめぐる外交努力を緩めてはいない。
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