Japan and North Korea have agreed to hold official talks in Beijing on Aug. 29. The last official talks were held in August 2008. The planned talks will be the first official talks for both the Democratic Party of Japan government and North Korea under the leadership of Mr. Kim Jong Un. Although the talks are just preliminary talks, Japan should use the opportunity to open a permanent channel of official contact with Pyongyang. Both Japan and North Korea should strive to prevent the talks from just turning into an exchange of acrimonious statements.

The groundwork for the talks were laid out at a meeting in Beijing on Aug. 9 and 10 between the North Korean Red Cross and the Japanese Red Cross Society on repatriating the remains of Japanese who died on the Korean Peninsula shortly before or immediately after the end of World War II and allowing visits to their grave sites by bereaved family members. Japan needs to find out North Korea's motive for taking up the remains issue and whether Pyongyang has any intention of further expanding diplomatic contact by utilizing the Aug. 29 talks.

Pyongyang had long been aware of the remains issue. Officials of a Japanese private organization had mentioned the issue to the North Korean side several years ago when they visited North Korea. Recently, Pyongyang said it had discovered Japanese remains at a construction site. According to Japan's health and welfare ministry, the remains of about 22,000 Japanese are buried in North Korea.