Japan unappeased by relatives' return

By Charles Scanlon BBC correspondent, Tokyo

It was the latest chapter in a bizarre tale from one of the world's most closed and secretive nations.

The children only recently found out the truth about themselves

Five young North Koreans stepped off a plane in Tokyo into the midst of a Japanese media frenzy.

They didn't know it themselves until two years ago but the five - now in their late teens and early twenties - are the children of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents a quarter of a century ago.

They were brought up in the totalitarian cocoon of Pyongyang, trained from birth to worship the ruling Kim dynasty, which dominates every aspect of national life.

Their parents had felt it safer not to tell them of their origins in a country portrayed as the historic enemy.

That all changed in September 2002 when the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, went to North Korea for his first meeting with the country's supreme ruler, Kim Jong-il.

Mr Kim admitted his agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s to teach their language and culture to North Korean spies.

And he agreed to release the five survivors.

Hostile media

It took a return visit by Mr Koizumi on Saturday to allow their children to join them in Japan.

For two years the issue has dominated Japanese politics and diplomacy and forced the government to give top priority to reuniting the families.

Mr Koizumi was accused of betrayal by some relatives

"The issue just doesn't lose traction," says Gerald Curtis, visiting professor from Columbia University.

"It draws on a sentimentality, an emotionalism and a feeling of Japan as one big family."

Mr Koizumi hoped that bringing back the children would finally let Japan get beyond the abduction issue and focus on the very real security threat from North Korea.

He will be having second thoughts after his reception on his return to Tokyo.

He was accused of betrayal by the relatives of other Japanese who were kidnapped, and who North Korea says have since died.

"Do you have no pride?" said Teruaki Matsumoto, whose sister disappeared in North Korea than two decades ago.

"Kim has cheated you twice and made a fool of you and Japan."

The relatives had hoped that Mr Koizumi would insist on a convincing explanation for what happened to the other abductees.

But all he got from Mr Kim was a vaguely worded agreement for a joint investigation.

Not a hopeful development in a country as closed as North Korea.

He should explain whether he has now abandoned the policy of carrots and sticks Mainichi Shimbun newspaper

During his 90 minutes with Kim Jong-il, Mr Koizumi agreed to resume humanitarian aid to the country.

The supply of 250,000 tons of rice and $10m in medical aid was seen in Japan as a ransom for the release of the children.

He also agreed to impose no sanctions on North Korea if it didn't breach existing agreements.

That drew a hostile reaction from many Japanese newspapers.

"It's incomprehensible that the Prime Minister promised no economic sanctions...he should explain whether he has now abandoned the policy of carrots and sticks," said the Mainichi Shimbun.

Nuclear obstacle

Other papers said Mr Koizumi achieved nothing substantial with his second visit to North Korea in less than two years.

He said he wanted to transform a hostile relationship into one of trust and co-operation.

Lower level talks on normalising diplomatic relations are now expected to resume.

But there's no sign of a change of heart from North Korea.

When questioned about his development of nuclear weapons, Mr Kim replied with unconvincing platitudes about the need for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Mr Koizumi wants Japan to concentrate on security with North Korea

The beleaguered regime is playing its few remaining cards to maximum effect.

Under pressure from the United States over its development of nuclear weapons, it is now making advances towards Washington's closest ally in the region.

The North hopes to relieve some of the diplomatic pressure at the slow moving six-party talks on its nuclear programme.

Unable to extract badly needed economic aid from the United States, the regime is now seeing how far it can get with Japan.

In the long term it expects a prize of several billion dollars from Tokyo, enough perhaps to kick start an economic revival.

But there's a long way to go.

The abduction issue has proved a much more severe obstacle than North Korea expected.

And despite Mr Koizumi's generosity in recent days, there's little sign that Japan will soften its stance on what appears to be a determined North Korean attempt to build a stockpile of nuclear weapons.