North Korea today said it would not agree to future multilateral talks that include Japan and accused Japanese leaders of exploiting the nuclear crisis negotiations for political or financial gain (see GSN, Oct. 6).

“A spokesman for the D.P.R.K. Foreign Ministry said in a statement today that the D.P.R.K. would not allow Japan to participate in any form of negotiations for the settlement of the nuclear issue in the future,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea also accused Japanese officials of harboring “black-hearted intention.”

Pyongyang is reportedly angry that Tokyo wants to discuss the issue of kidnapped Japanese citizens.  North Korea has admitted to kidnapping Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.

Japan has refused to exclude the issue from the talks.

“The nuclear issue is not a bilateral issue between Japan and North Korea, but is of serious consequence to the region and the international community,” said Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima.  “We do not accept any notion that a certain country in the six-party talks can be banned by any other party.  The six-party talks are formed with the participation of those countries that are gravely concerned with the issue,” Takashima added (Martin Nesirky, Reuters/Washington Post, Oct. 7).

Pyongyang said Japan is no longer “a trusty dialogue partner.”

Chinese, Japanese and South Korea officials met today at an Indonesian regional forum and agreed to continue to cooperate on the Korean nuclear crisis (BBC.com, Oct. 7).

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