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© KYODON Korea wants Japan to lift sanctions, dangling abductees' probe
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theFu
Uh ... no.
Laguna
They're not gonna comply whatever Japan does. How's that denuclearization deal going?
MarkX
North Korea really knows how to play Japan! Abe has continually been beating the drum about the abductees, and the North Koreans know this, so they will use it to force Abe to lift the sanctions. Of course Abe will never admit to it, but I can see some backdoor deal to pay off the North just to re-open the abductees case.
gogogo
hahaha what a joke, dangle what happened last time Japan lower them in front of them.... aka NOTHING, NK came up with an excuse to not look into it.
PTownsend
Are Kim/Xi/Putin going to play Abe like they played Trump?
Given the wealth of natural resources North Korea's reported to have, I think the trio have the leverage. And now that Putin wants to have a gas pipeline running down the Korean Peninsula and possibly connected to Japan, and given the reality Japan is resource poor, Japanese leadership have hard decisions ahead regarding how they'll align themselves and what they're willing to trade.
Alfie Noakes
Taxi for Shinzo!
gelendestrasse
The third fatty is going to try to play the negotiation game as long as he can. There's no reason to trust this guy any more than his father or grandfather.
Speed
I knew it. They'll keep using the kidnap victims as bait to get concessions from Japan.
Abe said they'd slap and keep the sanctions on NK if they didn't move to find and account for the kidnapped.
He should stick to his guns or else he'll get played. The sanctions don't get lifted until there's progress on the kidnapping issue.
Peeping_Tom
But I swear to God we had more than a few JT experts stating that NK does not need Japan's aid; that SK and China can do much better than Japan to modernise the North's regime.
Now, it appears NK wants Japan's help after all.
What a gwan?!
Really confused.com.
smithinjapan
Same thing will happen that happens every time, except that this is sweet for Abe. He’ll demand progress before anything’s lifted. NK will only say they’re looking into it. Abe will claim he has helped make progress on the issue and appear in photo ops with the Yokotas, promising again to resolve it. He’ll ease a couple of sanctions and allow NK ships to Japanese ports for trade. NK will bide it’s time, then eventually everyone’s dead or they were never there, maybe releasing a rumor from an NK agent saying, “I was trained in Japanese affairs by a woman who looked like one of the abductees. She spoke broken Korean, and while she had a family in NK, she seemed sad.” The Japanese will become furious and demand further sanctions after news about the abductees is revealed, and it’ll be back to square one, saving Abe (he’ll still be in power thanks to the issue) will have milked it.
Dukeleto
I have said this before and I’ll say it again. All this détente by NK is aimed simply at getting sanctions eased or eliminated entirely so they can further their nuclear capability to force what they want. Under no circumstances should sanctions be eased even a single nano meter before they denuclearise! Nothing more nothing less. Hold your course Japan with regards to NK and simply keep up maximum pressure until they denuclearise. Let the rest of the world get sucker punched.
oldman_13
That's not such a bad concession for Japan.
I sincerely hope Japan does lift those economic sanctions. Abe needs to stop being so stubborn and work to resolve the issues and establish ties again with North Korea.
wtfjapan
Abductions issue with NK, northern islands with Russia, both countries are going to milk Japan for all its worth, just wonder if Japan thinks its worth it.
AgentX
Lift sanctions?
That means Japan would have to treat NK fairly in business. We can't have that! We'd sooner see the NK people starve, and for NK to play into right capitalistic hands. It's worked well for other countries - take Iraq for instance.
liarsnfools
Mutual non-leverage. This is not going to get very far.
talaraedokko
Let’s find out who is ready to come home and resettle?
macv
I agree with DPRK