WAR.WIRE
Japan's abduction issue key for North Korea nuclear talks: report
 MOSCOW (AFP) Feb 23, 2005
 Japan's unyielding stance on the issue of North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals is one of the key stumbling blocks to the resumption of the six-way nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported Tuesday quoting a source close to the Chinese embassy.

According to the source, resolution of the abduction issue was one of the conditions North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il put to Chinese envoy Wang Jiarui even as he agreed to return to the six-party talks.

Tokyo's position on the abductions North Korea committed over 25 years ago "created serious problems for resumption of the six-party talks," the source quoted Kim as saying, adding that Pyongyang considered the issue "completely settled."

Wang earlier told Chinese television that North Korea "would be willing to return to the six-party talks at an early date, if the conditions are right," without specifying what the conditions were.

The Stalinist state has previously demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, which favours a multilateral approach.

The six-party talks involve North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, the United States and Russia.

The news came less than two weeks after North Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons and was snubbing the nuclear talks indefinitely.

Analysts said the latest announcement however did not mean that the talks would start again in the immediate future.