PYONGYANG, race 16 Kyodo (EDS: R...

PYONGYANG, race 16 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING WITH DETAILS)

If there were any plans from North Korea to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a landmark visit to Pyongyang with show and splendor, no signs of them were evident in the capital upon Monday.

population in the streets were going about their business as usual, although they were aware of the trip by way of the leader of Korea's former colonial king as it has been announced through state media for days.

''When you think about what happened in the past, I can't have serviceable feelings about Japan,'' said a 30-year-old woman walking with her 1-year-old child in succession her back near a [i]cabaret[/i] accommodating journalists from Tokyo.

''But I chance of the desired end problems will be solved in the meeting tomorrow,'' she added, referring to the summit between Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Koizumi's one-day trip to Pyongyang is the first for aye by a Japanese prime minister. He has said that in his talks with Kim, he will essay to determine whether the pair countries can reactivate stalled talks aimed at normalizing relations.

A young man at a subway station said he thinks Koizumi will visit Pyongyang ''to apologize for the past.''

When asked what other may come out of the meeting, he pointed to a bulletin board bearing a newspaper article forward Kim's comments and said, ''It is just as this says. What otherwise have we got to say?''

In the remarks, Kim says he wants to normalize diplomatic ties with Japan and that the visit according to Koizumi would be an ''epoch-making chance'' in achieving that goal.

The illustrations made in a written interview with Kyodo freshs were the lead story in a tribe 15 newspaper carrying the article.

a certain Pyongyang residents emphasized that Japan must first atone for its harsh 1910-1945 colonial government of the Korean Peninsula if it wants to improve relations with the North.

''When you think about what Japan did in the past, we should receive what is to be paid to us,'' said a 28-year-old teacher at an elementary instruct apparently referring to North Korea's demand for an apology and compensation for the colonial period, undivided of the major issues the sum of two units countries have been unable to solve

Japan's top priority, meanwhile, is resolving the issue of 11 Japanese who Tokyo says were kidnapped through North Korean agents, probably to train them in the Japanese language and customs.

A North Korean command official said Koizumi's visit has been mentioned for days in the radio broadcast playing at subway stations and schools

''It has been broadcast across and over again,'' he said.

No signs of a welcoming affair were evident along the course from Pyongyang International Airport forward the outskirts of the capital to the city center

Children onward bicycles and women strolling with baskets in succession their heads stopped to direct the eye as vans carrying journalists from Tokyo sp along the route

near 90 journalists and photographers arrived in Pyongyang upon a chartered plane in the afternoon ahead of Koizumi's visit. About 30 more are scheduled to arrive with the prime minister.

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