The Japanese government announced March 7 it would resume food aid to North Korea, offering 100,000 tons of rice through the United Nations World Food Program. Following the decision, the two countries agreed to resume Red Cross talks on humanitarian issues March 13 in Beijing and reopen the ambassadorial-level negotiations on diplomatic normalization -- suspended since 1992 -- in early April in Pyongyang.
Working-level diplomatic negotiations held last December in Beijing, preparatory to reopening normalization talks, failed to resolve bilateral disputes on the alleged abduction of 10 Japanese by North Korean agents and on Pyongyang's development of ballistic missiles.
Japan's decision to resume food aid to North Korea without progress in negotiations on the alleged kidnapping is widely seen as a carrot to entice Pyongyang into reopening normalization talks. There is strong concern, however, that the Japanese strategy might backfire, allowing Pyongyang to shelve the issue.