{
  "id": "RL32161",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32161",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104189,
      "date": "2003-11-26",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:32:47.295544",
      "title": "Japan-North Korea Relations: Selected Issues",
      "summary": "Japan and North Korea have not established official relations since the Korean Peninsula, which\nthe\nJapanese Empire annexed in 1910, was liberated from Japanese rule and divided into two separate\nstates following Japan's defeat in World War II. Attempts to establish normal relations in the early\n1990s and again in 2000 ended in failure, due to seemingly unresolvable obstacles. In September\n2002, a one-day summit was held in Pyongyang between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi\nand North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the first ever between the leaders of the two countries. \nKoizumi and Kim momentarily appeared to break longstanding stalemates on several issues and\nagreed to restart bilateral normalization talks, but the talks subsequently stalled, due to two\ndevelopments: North Korea's apparent admission to U.S. officials in October 2002 that it had a\nsecret nuclear weapons program based on the process of uranium enrichment; and popular outrage\nin Japan at Kim Jong-il's admission that North Korea kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980\nand brought them to North Korea to live. Subsequently, according to the North Korean government,\neight of whom died. \n  Japan's role is potentially critical in the current crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons\nprograms for a number of reasons. Most importantly, Japan has promised North Korea a large-scale\neconomic aid package to compensate for the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula from\n1910-1945, much as it gave South Korea economic assistance when Tokyo and Seoul normalized\nrelations in 1965. The assistance is to be provided after the countries agree to normalize relations,\na process that Japan now links to a resolution of the nuclear issue. Reportedly, Japanese officials\nare discussing a package on the order of $5-$10 billion, an enormous sum for the North Korean\neconomy, the total GDP of which is estimated to be in the $20 billion range. Currently, Japan is a\nsignificant source of North Korea's foreign exchange, by virtue of the large Japanese market for the\nNorth Korean government's suspected drug-running operations, and of remittances from Korean\npermanent residents in Japan. Japan is North Korea's third-largest trading partner. \n  Since the fall of 2002, Japan has been the Northeast Asian country most supportive of the Bush\nAdministration's policy of pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, and has taken\na number of steps to curtail North Korea's ability to earn hard currency and to import dual-use\ntechnology. Since North Korea launched a long-range missile over Japan in 1998, relations with\nNorth Korea have been a highly politicized issue inside Japan, creating strong domestic support for\ntaking a hard line against Pyongyang. Prime Minister Koizumi, however, has equivocated on taking\nmore coercive measures against North Korea, such as economic sanctions, absent an escalation of\nthe situation by Pyongyang. Japan fears such measures could provoke a military response by North\nKorea and/or trigger a surge in refugees. \n  This report will be updated periodically to track developments in Japan-North Korea relations.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
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          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32161",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
  ]
}