PYONGYANG — A call by a senior North Korean official for Japan to take a flexible approach on bilateral ties appears to reflect Pyongyang's hope for a shift in Tokyo's diplomacy as the North celebrates the official debut of its future leader.
The two governments, which have not talked on bilateral issues in more than two years, have been deadlocked over ways to improve relations, especially on the handling of Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.
"The current situation, I would say, is that Japan is 'abducted' by the abduction issue," Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, said in an interview Tuesday.