N. Korea raps Japan over stalled nuclear talks

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea blasted Japan on Tuesday for passing the
blame over stalled nuclear disarmament talks, insisting Tokyo is responsible for
the deadlock by not fulfilling its obligations.
The criticism came in response to Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura,
who a day earlier denounced Pyongyang's reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods
as "not constructive" and urged the country to return to the six-party talks.
"Kawamura's absurd speech, the same as a dog's barking in the moonlight, is not
even worth discussing," North Korea's Cabinet newspaper Minju Joson said in a
commentary.
"The Japanese reactionary forces... are pointing their finger at us and seriously
provoking the Korean military and the people," the paper said.
"But now that he is taking issue with the Sept. 19 joint statement and passing
the responsibility for wrecking the six-party talks to us, we must bring up the
matter," it said. The joint statement refers to a landmark agreement the two
Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia reached in 2005 to resolve the
dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
The nuclear talks have been in limbo since late last year due to disputes over
how to verify Pyongyang's past nuclear activity. Tension spiked markedly after
North Korea's rocket launch on April 5, which led to a series of punitive
reactions from the international community.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a presidential statement condemning the launch,
prompting Pyongyang to withdraw from the six-party talks in protest. Last week,
the Security Council's sanctions committee froze foreign assets of three North
Korean firms suspected of aiding the country's nuclear and missile programs. In
response, Pyongyang swiftly announced it has begun reprocessing spent nuclear
fuel rods to extract plutonium, used to make nuclear bombs.
Kawamura said in a press conference that Japan will fulfill U.N. sanctions and
closely work with the U.S. to push the nuclear talks forward.
North Korea accused the Japanese government of politically using its rocket
launch to fend off internal criticism. Japan also failed to provide its share of
energy aid promised to Pyongyang under a six-party deal and tried to link an
"irrelevant" abduction issue to the nuclear negotiations, the newspaper said.
Under a 2007 deal, Pyongyang was promised 1 million tons of energy aid from the
five other nations, and about three quarters of it has been delivered so far.
Japan refuses to provide its share of the energy until North Korea's past
abductions of its citizens are accounted for.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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