Japanese PM arrives in Washington
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda arrived in Washington on Thursday, one day before talks with US President George W. Bush on issues like North Korea and the global "war on terror."
The visit comes as relations between the world's two richest nations have suffered for a variety of reasons.
Washington felt slighted when Japan suspended a critical mission on November 1 to supply fuel to US-led coalition forces in the Indian Ocean as part of "war on terror" operations in Afghanistan.
The United States has been pushing Japan, officially pacifist since the end of World War II, to take on a greater security role in Asia.
Japan, on the other hand, was disillusioned for being kept out of the loop as the United States courted China in a desperate bid to end North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.
On Friday, Bush and Fukuda were expected to touch on US plans to remove North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House said, acknowledging a rift over Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese citizens.
The United States appears willing to remove North Korea from the list in exchange for Pyongyang fulfilling a pledge to dismantle its nuclear programs under a six-nation deal reached in February.
Fukuda is expected to urge Bush not to take Pyongyang off the list, citing North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies, according to news reports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il admitted in 2002 to the abductions and has since returned five kidnap victims and their spouses and children.
Pyongyang says other abductees are dead and the issue is closed. But Tokyo believes there are other Japanese who have been kidnapped but are being hidden by North Korea, possibly because they know state secrets.
