N Korea agrees to reopen probe on Japanese abductees: Abe

North Korea has agreed to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens it kidnapped decades ago, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday, a potential breakthrough in a bitter dispute between Tokyo and Pyongyang. 

Japan has agreed to ease some sanctions against North Korea once the probe had been reopened and will consider providing humanitarian aid depending on how the investigation progresses, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said separately. ‘Our job will not end until every parent can embrace their children with their own arms,’ Abe told reporters. ‘This is a first step toward an overall resolution.’ 

North Korea promised in 2008 to re-open the probe — but it never followed through. It also reneged on promises made in multilateral talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme and declared the negotiations over. 

The agreement on the abductees probe comes at a time of regional concerns that Pyongyang may be preparing for a fourth nuclear test in contravention of UN sanctions.  Asked whether Japan’s actions meant Tokyo was out of step with Washington and Seoul, Suga told a news conference: ‘It’s impossible. This agreement covers sanctions that Japan imposed on its own. It is not related to UN sanctions.’ 

Suga added that Japan would keep pressing for a ‘comprehensive resolution’ to the issues of the abductees and the threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programmes before it would normalise ties with Pyongyang. 

North Korea has been under UN sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006, banning it from conducting atomic and missile tests, barring UN member states from weapons trade with Pyongyang and financial transactions that facilitate them. In 2002, North Korea admitted to kidnapping Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies. Five abductees and their families returned to Japan.