Japan's interests will not be left behind in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, former top U.S. nuclear negotiator James Kelly said in a recent interview.
Fears have been raised in Tokyo that Japan could become isolated in the multilateral talks because it is maintaining a policy of not joining the other parties in aid to North Korea unless progress is made on the abductions of Japanese.
"We can't have a full solution (in the six-party talks) without the enthusiastic participation of Japan," said Kelly, who was U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs when the six-party talks were launched in August 2003.
Japan has always been an "important" participant in the six-way talks and there will not be "any surprises" that would put aside Japan's interests, said Kelly, who was in Los Angeles last week to attend an academic symposium at the University of Southern California as a panel speaker.