U.S. pledges to deal with Japanese abductees in 6-way nuke talks

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Monday it will support Japan raising the issue of North Korean abductions in the multilateral forum on ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

"The issue of abductions needs to be dealt with," State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said. "We will continue to work with them -- the six-party framework to
-- with the Japanese to find some answers to the questions that they have and try
to help bring some closure for those families that have been waiting years, if
not decades, for answers."
The remarks come as Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state, attends a
fresh round of the six-party talks in Beijing in a last-minute effort to conclude
an accord on the disablement of the North's nuclear facilities in the Bush
administration's waning weeks.
Prior to the start of the talks Monday, North Korea demanded Japan's ouster from
the nuclear disarmament talks, citing Japan's refusal to do its part in the
provision of heavy fuel oil in return for Pyongyang's disabling of its nuclear
facilities.
Under a nuclear deal signed by the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia,
the five parties are to provide 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil to the North --
200,000 tons each.
Japan, however, refused to do its part, complaining that North Korea has not yet
fully explained the fate of several Japanese citizens abducted to the North
decades ago.
North Korea has returned five of 13 Japanese citizens whom it had admitted
kidnapping, and said eight others are dead. Japan would not accept that, saying
several more have been abducted.
"We encourage all the parties in the six-party talks to work together," McCormack
told a daily news briefing. "I'll leave it to Chris to describe the dynamics in
the room. You know, there are statements and there are actions. I don't know what
the interactions have been in Beijing."
South Korea, host country of the six-party working group on energy aid to the
North, said it is contacting other countries that might provide the energy to the
North in lieu of Japan. Australia is said to be among the candidates.
Kim Sook, the South Korean chief nuclear envoy, said in Beijing earlier in the
day that the promised energy shipments will be completed by the end of March in
tandem with North Korea's disablement of its nuclear facilities.
The energy aid was supposed to be completed by October, but was delayed as the
North stopped disabling its nuclear facilities in August, citing Washington's
failure to delist it as a state sponsor of terrorism. Pyongyang resumed the
disabling process when Washington removed it from the list in October.
The new round of six-party talks is addressing ways to verify North Korea's
nuclear facilities and programs, amid pessimism that the North is unwilling to
agree to a verification protocol that includes taking samples from nuclear
facilities.