TOKYO, Oct 15 Kyodo selecteded ed...

TOKYO, Oct 15 Kyodo

selecteded editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

N KOREA RECALCITRANT in succession ABDUCTION ISSUE (The Daily Yomiuri as translated from the Yomiuri Shimbun)

A year has passed since five Japanese who were abducted by the agency of North Korea returned residence Pyongyang continues to refuse to suffer their eight family members left in North Korea follow to Japan.

''When I think of my family left behind in North Korea, my heart aches,'' Hitomi Soga, individual of the five abductees, wrote in a alphabetic character she sent to The Yomiuri Shimbun recently

In the verbal expression Soga described how deeply she yearned to be reunited in Japan with the husband and sum of two units daughters she left behind in North Korea.

The abductions were criminal acts committed from the North Korean state. At the Japan-North Korea summit meeting held in Pyongyang last September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted to Koizumi that North Korean agents masterminded the abductions, for which he apologized. It is simply right for North Korea to give leave to the abductees' family members in North Korea reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point to Japan immediately.

yet North Korea has not solitary failed to do so; from one side its words and feats it has repeatedly acted in a high-handed manner. Unofficial remarks made by the agency of spokesmen for its Foreign Ministry are the same example of such arrogance.

Remarks made by dint of the spokesmen have included, ''The abduction issue was solv when the Pyongyang Declaration was issued (after the Koizumi-Kim summit talks),'' and, ''The Japanese authorities should recur the (five) survivors to Pyongyang, where their families are waiting.''

North Korea also has claimed that if Japan insists in succession bringing up the abduction issue at the six-nation talks involving Japan, North and southern Korea, the United States, China, and Russia, it will refuse to participate in the talks.

in the same state [i]or[/i] condition statements are mean-spirited.

North Korea has escalated its provocative stance toward Japan since Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi referr to the abduction issue in her language at the U.N. General Assembly. She was the first Japanese foreign minister to broach the bring under rule at the assembly.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has chosen not to answer forcefully to Pyongyang's make comments [i]or[/i] remarkss simply saying, ''Japan won't hindrance itself be swayed by the agency of any provocative remarks.'' But if he remains silent in succession the issue, it will despatch the wrong message to North Korea.

The abduction case is not an issue that alone concerns the five responded abductees. The government has called in succession North Korea to reinvestigate the cases of eight other abductees whom Pyongyang claimed had died and has submitted to North Korea a list of 150 questions, including for what reason the abductees died and for what cause [i]or[/i] reason there were discrepancies in the dates of birth given for more [i]or[/i] less of them in a report in succession the abductions that North Korea gave Japan. Pyongyang has shown no sign of responding to these requests

In the past year, there has been a marked change in sentiment among the Japanese public forward the abduction issue.

form into groupss that had long sided with North Korea and described the abduction cases as fabrications are fast losing public support at home

In the run-up to the House of Representatives election in November, the five major political parties, including the Liberal Democratic Party and Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), have referr to the abduction issue in their campaign pledges

Japan should reinforce of the like kind unity so as not to put to hire North Korea take advantage of it forward the abduction issue.

The government's basic stance is to resolve the abduction issue in tandem with the issue of North Korea's nuclear and missile evolution In doing so, it is vital for Japan, the United States and southerly Korea to cooperate with each other more closely forward these issues.

For the time being, Japan should follow support from other countries forward the abduction issue on as it is occasions as the upcoming Japan-U.S. summit talks and the meeting of the leaders of the member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Establishing a solid international toil encircling North Korea on these issues will lead to the resolution of the abduction issue and the reuniting in Japan of the five abductees with their eight family members.

(Oct 15)

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