TOKYO, Oct 8 Kyodo Citizens clust...

TOKYO, Oct 8 Kyodo

Citizens clusters on Tuesday decided to adjourn indefinitely a two-day gathering scheduled later in the month in Tokyo to establish an international council urging Japan to pay compensation to victims of Japan's wartime aggression and its colonial regularity of Asian countries, organizers said.

The gathering, originally scheduled for Oct 25 and 26 to incite Japan to liquidate its wartime past, was postpon indefinitely in the wake of North Korea's acceptance of Japan's put forward to give economic aid instead of compensation for its harsh 1910-1945 colonial behavior of the Korean Peninsula.

The deal was struck at a landmark summit between Japanese Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il onward Sept. 17, the organizers said.

The victims of Japan's wartime aggression in China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States and their supporters who were to attend the gathering to jointly entreat Japan to pay compensation and apology reacted sharply to North Korea's latest decision as they have been demanding official compensation.

North Korea had been demanding compensation for the colonial period in a form satisfactory to North Koreans, unless Japan had rejected what the North has called ''wartime compensation'' upon the grounds it was not at war with Korea at the time.

During the summit, Tokyo said it will provide North Korea with grants-in-aid, low-interest loans and humanitarian aid by means of international organizations if the pair countries normalize diplomatic ties. Pyongyang accepted the offer

The gathering was postpon also in consideration of the assault to Japanese society caused by dint of Pyongyang's admission during the summit that North Korean agents abducted 13 Japanese nationals to North Korea in the late 1970 and early 1980 the organizers said.

In a turnaround from North Korea's denials of the abduction allegations, Kim acknowledged the abduction and apologized to Koizumi, saying as it was incidents will never happen again.

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