Prime minister's North Korea visit should be based on Pyongyang Declaration: JCP

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro will visit Pyongyang on May 22 for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The plan was announced on May 14 by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hosoda Hiroyuki.

Later in the day, Koizumi said to the press that he would discuss the abduction issue as well as the nuclear issue, based on the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi, asked by the press to comment on the prime minister's planned visit to North Korea, said that he hopes that the summit talks will help make progress toward resolving issues including the abduction issue, as confirmed in the Sep. 2002 Pyongyang Declaration.

Ichida said, "The JCP is consistent in seeking a resolution through sincere talks and peaceful and diplomatic approaches on the pending bilateral issues, including the abductions."

On the question of the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea, Ichida said, "It is not only a bilateral issue between Japan and North Korea but part of the many internationally illegal acts that North Korea has carried out.

"Resolving this issue is indispensable for North Korea to be accepted by the international community," he added.

Ichida stressed that the abduction issue needs to be discussed as an international issue, along with the nuclear issue, at such forums as the six-party talks, and that it also needs to be clearly solved through bilateral talks between Japan and North Korea. (end)