N. Korea demands Japan lift ban on ferry link

Kyodo
1/14/2007

Song Il Ho, the North Korean envoy in charge of normalizing relations with Japan, demanded in a recent meeting with a senior Japanese lawmaker that Japan lift a ban on a North Korean ferry service to a Japanese port on humanitarian grounds, informed sources said Sunday.

In a meeting with Taku Yamasaki of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who visited Pyongyang last week, Song said, “There are people who can no longer travel to and from Japan even if they want to,” according to the sources.

“Humanitarian problems must be removed immediately,” Song was quoted as saying. Japan has banned entry by the North Korean passenger-cargo ferry Mangyongbong-92 as part of its sanctions against the North following its missile launches into the Sea of Japan in July.

Song also said Japan’s trade sanctions against the North after its first nuclear test in October is hurting sales of clams and matsutake mushrooms, according to the sources.

“We are faced with difficulty selling clams and mushrooms,” Song was quoted as saying. He also said Japan’s economic sanctions “have not been effective.”

The sources said Yamasaki was served cuisine featuring matsutake and Song told him, “I feel pity for the Japanese who can no longer eat delicious clams and matsutake” and implicitly requested that Japan lift the trade embargo against North Korea.

Returning to Japan from a five-day visit to Pyongyang until Saturday, senior LDP lawmaker Yamasaki also said on a TV Asahi program Sunday that North Korea denied it abducted Kyoko Matsumoto, a woman the Japanese government added last year to a list of Japanese nationals abducted by the North.

Yamasaki quoted Song as saying, “Several years ago, the Japanese government made an inquiry. After investigations, we found that no such person existed.”

Matsumoto, who disappeared from Tottori Prefecture in 1977 at age 29, was added to the list of abductees as the 17th victim in November. The abduction of Japanese nationals has been one of the major sticking points in the normalization of ties between Japan and North Korea.

Yamasaki visited Pyongyang despite the Japanese government’s urging not to do so when it is imposing economic sanctions against North Korea. The visit was also seen by some as paving the way for former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to make his third trip to the country.

On that point, Yamasaki said, “I personally think it would be nice if the trip is realized but nothing definite was made this time.”

Yamasaki said China is raising hopes that the United States and North Korea will meet later this month to discuss U.S. financial sanctions against the North.

Yamasaki said he met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Tuesday and Wu made a remark to that effect.

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