Japan's North Korea policy
By Sandip Kumar Mishra
New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made his first policy speech to the Japanese legislature Oct. 8, and said “the abductions issue is one of the highest priority issues” for Japan in its dealings with North Korea.
He also mentioned that the North's nuclear and missile developments were “absolutely unacceptable” and Japan would like to normalize relations with North Korea in accordance with the Pyongyang Declaration of 2002.
The first pronouncement of Kishida regarding Pyongyang makes it obvious that there is no change in the Japanese approach toward the North. More importantly, the Kishida speech underlined that in Japan's North Korea policy, the abduction issue is the most salient issue.
This is indeed important and must be addressed, as, per Japanese claims, 17 Japanese citizens were abducted by North Korea from 1977 to 1983 (North Korea says that the number is 13).
But part of it has already been resolved. Through his two visits to Pyongyang in September 2002 and May 2004, then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi got back five of the abductees and their families to Japan.
Actually, former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il also “apologize(d) straightforwardly” and said that such an “appalling incident” would not be allowed to happen again. North Korea also repatriated the remains of a few of the “dead” abductees, though Japan disputes the number of abductees as well as North Korean claims about their deaths.
To keep the issue in perspective, it must be underlined that even as per the Japanese claim, the unresolved issue is limited to 12 abductees along with the fact that the incident happened 40 years ago.
Thus, the pertinent question is whether it is prudent on the part of Japan to frontload the abduction issue and allow it to overshadow Tokyo's policy toward Pyongyang. If the issue keeps Japan and North Korea disconnected and the North keeps moving forward with its nuclear and missile programs, it would cause a threat to millions of Japanese citizens.
Since 2004, most of the bilateral and multilateral interactions between Japan and North Korea have been occupied with the abduction issue. Even during the six-party talks which were formally meant to denuclearize North Korea, Japan kept emphasizing a resolution to the abduction issue.
When Kishida was foreign minister in 2014, Japan discussed the issue with North Korea and established a special investigating committee for it, but North Korea dissolved the committee unilaterally in 2016 after the expansion of Japanese sanctions on North Korea.
Japan keeps asking for a “satisfactory account and convincing evidence” about the whereabouts of the remaining Japanese abductees and North Korea keeps denying or deflecting it. In 2018 when South Korea and the U.S. were trying to bring North Korea to negotiating table to resolve nuclear and missile issues, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept on insisting that the priority must be given to the abduction issue.
While Japan should keep the abduction issue among all other matters which must be negotiated with the North, it should not be given the number one priority. Resolving North Korea's nuclear and missile issues as well as normalizing relations with Pyongyang must be prioritized.
Japan has been one of the most important players in the region while seeking to become a “normal state” by being equally significant both in the economic and military domains. Unfortunately, its relations with neighboring countries ― South Korea, North Korea, China and Russia ― have been problematic.
Japan must realize that its regional or global stature is going to have to shadow its relations with neighboring countries. Even though its contests with China and Russia appear unavoidable, the same cannot be said about its relations with South and North Korea.
Thus, it would be pertinent for Tokyo to articulate a North Korea policy in alignment with its far broader foreign policy goals rather than popular sentiment. Japan has the potential to contribute positively to the process of North Korean denuclearization but for that it must make more far-sighted choices.
Here, it must be reiterated that it does not mean to say that it should give up the abduction issue. Rather it means that the broader Japanese foreign policy goals as well as a resolution to the North Korea nuclear and missile issues should not be made hostage to the abductions.
Unfortunately, the first North Korea policy statement of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida appears to be a step in the direction which has been unproductive so far. Whether Japan will change its course and look beyond the abduction issue is difficult to predict but it is definitely desirable.
The author (sandipmishra10@gmail.com) is associate professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.