The National Police Agency on Wednesday ordered police nationwide to prepare for possible attacks by ultranationalists against facilities related to North Korea in the wake of the signing the previous day of an agreement between Tokyo and Pyongyang to resume normalization talks, NPA officials said.
The Osaka Prefectural Police stepped up security at North Korean-related facilities after a local primary school for pro-Pyongyang residents' children received a death threat via telephone against the students.
Several other North Korean schools in Osaka, home to a large number of Koreans, received similar calls, they said.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has dispatched riot police to the headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) in Chiyoda Ward.
The MPD also beefed up patrols around schools for children of pro-Pyongyang Korean residents of Japan, particularly around the hours when the children arrive at and leave school.
It also reinforced security around the office of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the Foreign Ministry.
During their summit Tuesday in Pyongyang, Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il agreed to resume normalization talks in October, despite Pyongyang's effective acknowledgment that it abducted 13 people in the 1970s and 1980s, eight of whom have since died in North Korea.