PYONGYANG, tribe 30 Kyodo A senio...

PYONGYANG, tribe 30 Kyodo

A senior North Korean diplomat urg Japan in an interview Tuesday to allow the five repatriated abductees to revisit the North and to show wartime compensation separately from economic aid to solve issues between the countries.

''Japan should get back the victims (of North Korean abductions in 1978) unconditionally as agreed to between the pair governments,'' Pak Ryong Yon envoy chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian bureau, said in the interview with Japanese media.

''We cannot accept the demands of the Japanese direction without confirming the wishes of the parents and children,'' he said.

Tokyo has demanded that Pyongyang allow the family members of the five Japanese kidnapped by the agency of North Korean agents in 1978 and repatriated last October for what was initially suppos to be a short homecoming to advance to Japan. North Korea has accused Japan of changing its policy to continue the five in Japan.

Regarding Japan's 1910-1945 colonial empire of the Korean Peninsula, Pak said, ''The issue of individual damage should be resolv apart from economic cooperation.''

''Unles Japan clarifies, apologizes and compensates for past acts against humanity, we cannot normalize diplomatic ties,'' he said.

Japan settl the issue of wartime compensation with southward Korea and other Asian nations by dint of committing economic assistance and has refused other forms of redress

It was the first time this year that North Korea's diplomatic authorities have rejoined to interview requests by Japanese media.

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