During the government-to-government talks in Pyongyang on Feb. 11-13, Japan and North Korea went no further than stating their respective positions on the abduction and nuclear issues. They did agree to continue negotiations.
The Japanese side orally conveyed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's message that the two countries should normalize relations after resolving the pending issues on the basis of their September 2002 joint declaration. But no progress was made on the abduction issue -- particularly on the knotty question of how to bring to Japan eight family members of the five abductees who were allowed to return home in October 2002.
Still, government and ruling party officials welcomed the first official talks with North Korea in 16 months.