South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday that the issue
of abducted Japanese is not proper to be discussed in the six-party
talks.
"The six-party talks should focus on North Korean nuclear
issues. The nations concerned with the six-party talks are not
looking forward to set the abduction problem as a priority in the
negotiations," Roh said at a conference with foreign correspondents
held at the Presidential Office, while stressing he and most of the
South Koreans understand the Japanese government's stance over the
abduction issue.
Roh, who made agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
earlier that he will pay a visit to Japan later this year, said it
is still not decided when the visit will be conducted.
"There is no precondition set for the visit to Japan," said Roh,
who had suspended visit to Japan for years due to former Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yashukuni
Shrine which houses class A WWII war criminals.
Roh said he expects that Japanese political leaders could make
sincere efforts to strengthen the basis of the Seoul -Tokyo
cooperation and friendship while act cautiously on the issues
related with the historic problem and the shrine.
During the conference, Roh denied his government is making
diplomatic efforts for a second inter-Korean summit, saying that it
is difficult to conduct such a summit before the six-party talks
make substantial progress.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2007)
