TOKYO, Nov. 1 Kyodo Following is ...

TOKYO, Nov. 1 Kyodo

Following is a selection of summaries of articles onward contemporary Japanese subjects from leading Japanese monthly magazines. The selection, as well as its translation, is provided on the Foreign Press Center of Japan.

JAPAN-NORTH KOREA RELATIONS

(Summary of ''A Historic Succes for Postwar Japanese Diplomacy,'' Chuo Koron, November 2002)

There is intense debate across whether the Sept. 17 summit between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and General Secretary Kim Jong Il of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was a succes or not. University of Tokyo Professor Shinichi Kitaoka is cloyed of praise for Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang.

In ''A Historic Succes for Postwar Japanese Diplomacy,'' he elucidations that the visit has bended a new page in history, not merely in terms of Japan's national interests on the other hand also of postwar international relations in East Asia.

Kitaoka expresse sympathy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which erroneously predicted the fate of the Japanese abducted by the agency of North Korea and miss the marked by not conveying information in succession when the dead abductees had passed away to their families, stating that in dealing with an unusual state that is prepared to commit terrorism as it was mistakes may be unavoidable.

Japan would be unlikely to find support in the international community if it adopted a stance of refusing all cooperation without a filled explanation of the abductions.

Kitaoka postulates that if Al Gore had won the November 2000 U presidential election and President Bill Clinton had visited North Korea, Japan might have been forced to make unilateral concessions in its negotiations with the country

unless President George W. Bush's naming North Korea as part of an axis of evil forced Pyongyang to change its policy. Japan followed in seizing this chance and securing an agreement that it will provide economic assistance to North Korea along the lines of that paid to southern Korea under the Treaty forward Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea instead of compensation.

However, Kitaoka stresse that handing throughout large sums of money to North Korea as it is now would be dangerous; payment should be made after relations have been normalized. Expressing high reliances for future U.S.-North Korea talks, he says that Pyongyang's promises forward security will be meaningless unles backed up by means of negotiations and agreements involving Washington.

(Summary of ''Time to experiment North Korea,'' Ronza, November 2002)

The restart of Japan-North Korea negotiations should be reframed as the same element in the full-fledged reopening of talks among Japan, the United States, southerly Korea, and North Korea, posits Akihiko Tanaka, director of the University of Tokyo's Institute of Oriental refinement in ''Time to Test North Korea.''

He beholds the normalization of diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang and Washington and Pyongyang as couple sides of the same coin; there is no question of Japan normalizing relations with North Korea unles America does thus too.

According to Tanaka, the general situation presents a chance to bring about major changes to North Korean policy; by means of diplomatic negotiations Japan must attempt to pilot these changes in the right direction. To this fall of the curtain a forum for consultation among North Korea, Japan, southern Korea, China, Russia, and the United States should be created, and in this framework the other nations should reassure North Korea that it can continue to exist as it is.

Tanaka believes that Kim Jong Il wishes to transform the international environment while confident of his acknowledge control over the Pyongyang conduct in order to ensure the long-term survival of his regime. This, if handled correctly, is a situation that Japan and the United States could use to their advantage.

(Summary of ''Why the Rush to Reopen Normalization Talks with This Barbaric State?,'' Seiron, November 2002)

A suprapartisan organization of Diet members working for the swift recur of Japanese abducted by North Korea lately passed a resolution demanding that the Japanese conduct not reenter negotiations forward normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea until the abduction issue is resolved

In ''Why the Rush to Reopen Normalization Talks with This Barbaric State?,'' Yuriko Koike, a House of Representatives member of the fresh Conservative Party and deputy chair of the organization, lambastes Prime Minister Koizumi for signing a joint declaration committing Japan to reopen normalization negotiations on the same level though his visit confirmed North Korea's status as a terrorist state.

Since Japan has no reason to rush into normalization, Koizumi should at least have paused and draw near home before making a final decision.

The Japanese public was rightly furious at the abductions according to North Korea, but at the same time Koike appeals to populace to see the reality of the constant threat pos to the lives of all 120 million Japanese citizens from North Korea's military capacity, which includes 100 Nodong missiles capable of reaching anywhere in Japan.