Vietnam Vows Support for Japan over Abductions

Hanoi, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Monday pledged the country's continued support for Japan over the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals. He showed the stance at a meeting here with Keiji Furuya, Japanese minister in charge of the abduction issue, who asked for cooperation from the Southeast Asian country. Dung said that Vietnam agreed to cooperate with Japan in tackling the issue at a bilateral summit in 2006 and that his country plans to keep assisting Japan. Vietnam has diplomatic relations with North Korea, while there are no such relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang. Also on Monday, Furuya, who doubles as chairman of Japan's National Public Safety Commission, met with Vietnamese Public Security Minister Tran Dai Quang. They agreed to launch bilateral subcabinet-level talks by the end of this year with the aim of stepping up cooperation between the two countries' police authorities. They also agreed to share information on the abduction issue. Furuya also sought Vietnam's cooperation in the abduction issue at a separate meeting with Le Hong Anh, a standing member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Over the abduction problem, Japan has been trying to secure cooperation from countries with close ties with North Korea. As part of the strategy, Furuya visited Mongolia, which has diplomatic ties with North Korea, earlier this month and met with President Tsakhia Elbegdorj. END