Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an aide, Mr. Isao Iijima — a former secretary to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi — to North Korea last week in an effort to make progress on unresolved bilateral issues, including the past abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents.
Japan has made it clear to North Korea that the abduction issue as well as the issue of the North's nuclear weapons and missiles programs must be resolved comprehensively on the basis of the Sept. 17, 2002, Pyongyang Declaration jointly signed by Mr. Koizumi and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the father of current North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang should make sincere efforts to heed Japan's call to resolve these issues. Tokyo, on its part, must prevent Pyongyang from driving a wedge between Japan and the United States and South Korea as the three countries attempt to deal with the North's nuclear weapons program.