JCP welcomes Japan-DPRK agreement to continue bilateral talks

The Japanese Communist Party has said it welcomes the agreement between the Japanese and North Korean governments to continue to hold bilateral talks.

At a press conference in the Diet on February 16, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said that although the latest Japan-North Korea meeting did not reach a conclusion, it was significant that both sides accepted the need to resolve various issues based on the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration and agreed to continue their bilateral talks.

Ichida stressed the need to continue the peaceful and diplomatic efforts to resolve the issues of abduction and nuclear weapons development based on the agreement of the six-party talks on North Korea.

When the Diet considered the bill to revise the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law to allow the government to impose unilateral economic sanctions against North Korea, the JCP opposed it on the grounds that it will run counter to the six-party talks agreement, Ichida explained. (end)