Japanese Prime Minister Shinjo Abe’s special adviser Isao Iijima received a warm welcome in North Korea when he arrived on Tuesday. On Thursday, Pyongyang’s nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam greeted him in a surprise move. Iijima had been initially scheduled to meet with Song Il-ho, the North’s ambassador in charge of talks with Tokyo.
It’s not difficult to reason why the isolationist regime has invited Iijima, who reportedly played a role in organizing former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s trips to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004, at this time. His unannounced visit to Pyongyang coincided with a trip to Northeast Asia by Glyn Davis, America’s special representative for North Korea policy ― apparently a North Korean ploy aimed at shaking Tokyo’s cooperation with Seoul and Washington against its nuclear and missile threats. This can be easily inferred from the fact that the North made public Iijima’s trip unilaterally while Japan kept it secret.
Little has been known about what was discussed during the adviser’s series of talks with North Korean officials, but it would not be wrong if Japan sought a solution to its abduction issue. South Korea and the U.S. have not made an issue of Japan’s contact with North Korea to discuss the problem so far on humanitarian grounds. But the secret trip is not a simple matter, given that their talks on abductees have been in progress in parallel with negotiations to open diplomatic relations. That’s because things would be different if North Korea received large amounts of compensation in return for official ties.
It’s understandable that the impoverished North is looking for ways out at a time when even Beijing, its only aid supplier, is moving to rein in Pyongyang in the aftermath of its nuclear and missile tests. The problem is Japan that is increasingly becoming a ``headache’’ in Northeast Asia with its rapid rightward shift.
To be sure, Abe’s dispatch of Iijima to Pyongyang is multi-purpose. First of all, it’s a move to curry favor with the electorate ahead of the Upper House elections in July. It’s also seen as an attempt to escape from isolation in Northeast Asia that has resulted from its denial of past wrongs and other regressive moves.
Whatever the reasons may be, the trip is an act that destroys the foundation of the international community’s coordination to deter North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs and will do more harm than good to Japan itself as well as Northeast Asia. It simply defies our understanding that Japan, which had shown the most hard-line stance toward the reclusive country, changed its attitude overnight and sent a secret emissary even without prior notice.
At a time when strong international coordination is desperately needed to deter the North’s nuclear and missile ambitions, it’s imperative for Japan to regain its composure.