SEOUL (Kyodo) Japan and South Korea agreed Saturday that before direct talks can take place between Tokyo and Pyongyang to address the North's past abductions of Japanese nationals, inter-Korean dialogue should be held to repair bilateral ties and defuse tensions on the peninsula.
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sung Hwan, told a joint news conference in Seoul that their countries and the United States share the view that the two Koreas should first engage in talks, following the North's deadly shelling of a South Korean border island last November.
Maehara earlier caused a stir when he proposed resuming direct Japan-North Korea talks, which have stalled since August 2008, to address Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs and the abduction issue. The foreign minister made it clear that he expects such dialogue to be held after the envisioned inter-Korean talks.