North Korea-Japan Relations: The Normalization Talks and the Compensation/Reparations Issue

Publication Date: September 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Coverage: Japan Korea (North)

Abstract:

Japan and North Korea have not established official relations since North Korea was founded in 1948. In 2000, the two countries held three rounds of normalization talks, which had been frozen since 1992. The negotiations, however, broke down in November 2000. In late August 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced that, after months of behind-the-scenes negotiations with North Korea, he would travel to Pyongyang on September 17 for a day-long summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to attempt to restart the normalization talks.

The most pressing issue for Prime Minister Koizumi is obtaining North Korean cooperation in resolving the cases of several Japanese allegedly kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Apparently, it was after receiving signs of progress on this issue that Koizumi decided to make the trip to Pyongyang. Japan also is seeking North Korean commitments to curb its missile program and to allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities. Koizumi is also likely to raise the incursions by espionage and drug-running ships thought to be of North Korean origin into Japanese waters.

For its part, one of Pyongyang's key demands is that Tokyo compensate North Korea for Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945. Though Japan has resisted using terms such as "compensation" and "reparations," Tokyo has offered to provide North Korea with a large-scale economic aid package, much as it gave South Korea economic assistance when Tokyo and Seoul normalized relations in 1965. North Korea, however, insists that it will only accept "compensation." This disagreement over terminology has contributed to the current deadlock in the normalization negotiations. There are a number of estimates for the present value of the 1965 JapanSouth Korea settlement, ranging from as low as $3.4 billion to over $20 billion. Reportedly, Japanese officials are discussing a package on the order of $5-$10 billion.