NK, Japan to Begin New Round of Normalization Talks

North Korea and Japan will begin Wednesday a new round of normalization talks, after a half-year hiatus, as part of a February multilateral deal on the North's denuclearization.

The talks are to be held in Mongolia's capital Ulan Bator until Thursday. Concerns have risen that the talks might pose a major obstacle to the six-party nuclear talks as Japan has been refusing to proceed with eventual normalization unless North Korea gives further explanations on the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago.

Tokyo strongly opposes any attempt by Washington to remove Pyongyang from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The step by the U.S. would be one of the key rewards for the North's declaration and disablement of its nuclear programs, which are preconditions for the North to get economic aid from the U.S. and

international financial institutions.

At the last round of Japan-North Korea talks in March, the sides made little progress as Tokyo continued to accuse Pyongyang of hiding Japanese citizens it abducted decades ago, a claim dismissed by the North.

Pyongyang insisted Tokyo be excluded from the nuclear talks, which also involve South Korea, the U.S., China and Russia.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura stressed the importance of resolving the issue of the kidnapped citizens Wednesday, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.

"We are not optimistic so much, but we are not pessimistic either. But we are expecting really some positive outcome," Mitsuo Sabaka, a spokesman for the Japanese foreign minister, told reporters in Sydney.

Sabaka and the Japanese foreign minister are in Australia for meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, set to begin later Wednesday.

Progress in the Japan-North Korea talks is seen as more critical than ever to the nuclear talks as the United States is seriously considering removing the North from the list of terrorism-sponsoring states.

Washington is widely expected to bring the deal, reached in its normalization talks with Pyongyang in Geneva over the weekend, to the next round of the six-way talks to put it in a formal agreement.

But the U.S. had previously said it will not remove North Korea from the list unless progress is made on the abduction issue.

Japan also refuses to provide benefits to the North in exchange for its denuclearization steps until the abduction issue is resolved.

North Korea has already shut down its key nuclear facilities under a February agreement signed by all six parties in the nuclear talks.

South Korea has provided 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to the North as a reward for shutting down the facilities, and the countries have agreed to provide another 950,000 tons once North Korea disables and declares all of its nuclear programs.