N. Korea showing further signs of conciliation: Kawamura

TOKYO, Sept. 10 Kyodo -
Japan's top government spokesman said Thursday that North Korea showed another
sign of a conciliatory approach by indicating its eagerness to improve ties
with Japan under the new administration to be led by the Democratic Party of
Japan.
''This is part of North Korea's conciliatory policy,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary
Takeo Kawamura said after North Korea's No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam called for
''fruitful relations'' with Japan's incoming administration during an interview
in Pyongyang with Kyodo News earlier in the day.
''There has been a series of signals (that show North Korea's eagerness for
dialogue),'' Kawamura told Kyodo News, referring to the release of two detained
U.S. journalists following a visit to Pyongyang by former U.S. President Bill
Clinton in August.
''We have been working in the belief that there will come a period of dialogue
(between Japan and North Korea),'' he added.
Meanwhile, Japan's presumptive prime minister and DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama
said that whether North Korea ''can build such fruitful relations'' with Japan
''depends on North Korea's response.''
Hatoyama noted that many of the problems that currently exist between the two
countries are on the North's side as seen from its nuclear test and the lack of
progress over resolving the issue of its abductions of Japanese nationals.
In the interview, Kim said, ''If (Japan) respects the Pyongyang
Declaration...while setting fruitful relations in political, economic, cultural
and other areas that benefit both sides, (such initiatives) would not only
match the wishes of the people in both countries but secure peace and stability
in Northeast Asia.''
He was referring to a declaration signed in 2002 between North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during their
talks in Pyongyang, in which the two governments committed themselves to work
toward normalizing ties.
A government source said the remarks by Kim Yong Nam show that the North Korean
leader Kim's regime is paying ''strong attention'' to what kind of approach the
DPJ-led administration will take in dealing with North Korea.
A Foreign Ministry source said that his comments show that North Korea is
''placing emphasis on the declaration even now.''
Following such remarks by Kim Yong Nam, Japan will pay attention to whether
North Korea will take concrete actions to resolve such issues as the
abductions, as well as the nuclear and missile issues.
==Kyodo