In his Sept. 13 letter ("Where is North Korea's good will?"), Geoff Dean writes that Gregory Clark owes us more conclusive evidence of rightwing interference and of North Korean good will. Dean also writes that, as prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi made some progress toward better relations with North Korea.
Koizumi went to North Korea (in 2002) and made an appointment with the North Korean Leader, who willingly had admitted to the North Korean abduction of 13 Japanese nationals, which in fact took place before he became leader. Isn't that a show of good will?
For their part, Japanese prime ministers waited far longer to apologize to North Korea and other countries for Japan's World War II atrocities.
And what did Koizumi do with this North Korean good will? He made an agreement that the surviving five abductees could go home to Japan and visit relatives, but that they would then return to North Korea to decide with their families there whether to live in Japan or North Korea in the future. Koizumi did not keep the terms of the agreement. The abductees did not return to North Korea. I would also hesitate to make new appointments with Japan if I were the North Korean leader.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.