In a renewed bid to improve relations with North Korea, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Pyongyang on Saturday for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Mr. Koizumi's first one-day visit, in September 2002, led to the return home of five Japanese abductees, but the mission was only half accomplished: Eight family members -- seven children and a husband -- were left behind.
It is most unusual for the leader of a country, twice in less than two years, to visit another country with which there are no diplomatic relations. But the exceptional nature of the trip suggests that the eight, or at least the seven children, may be released sooner than later. As Mr. Koizumi told reporters, "I would not make such a decision unless there was a certain prospect for progress." It is also likely that long-stalled talks on normalizing relations will resume in the near future.
But the relatives' "homecoming" will not mark an end to the abduction issue. At least 10 Japanese nationals are still missing. They are believed to have been kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s, but Pyongyang says they are either dead or never entered North Korea. There are also scores of suspected kidnapping cases. Compensation for kidnap victims is undecided. The forthcoming trip should move toward settlement of these and other problems.