Negotiators from Tokyo and Pyongyang continued their discussions for the third straight day in Beijing yesterday, this time discussing the normalization of diplomatic ties. But no progress has yet been reported.

Since the bilateral talks opened on Saturday, the two countries have made little progress, as the Japanese side insisted that it would be very difficult to normalize diplomatic ties without a solution to the past abduction of Japanese nationals.

However, Pyongyang also expressed major expectations about settling the past during yesterday's panel.

Before joining the talks, Song Il-ho, North Korea's head negotiator on the panel, told reporters that the settlement of those issues is not of a temporary nature, and should be solved from the historical and moral standpoints.

He said his country is waiting to see whether Japan is willing to settle the issues left over from history, referring to Pyongyang's call for Japan to atone for its 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

According to Song, yesterday's discussion mainly covered such issues as economic cooperation, the status of ethnic Koreans in Japan and the return of cultural assets.

Koichi Haraguchi, Song's Japanese counterpart in the panel, said he hopes to reconfirm the two countries' previous agreement, under which Japan would give aid to North Korea rather than money to settle the issue.

He said the economic cooperation can be realized only when ties are actually normalized, a process that is hinged largely on the solution of the abduction dispute.

"The normalization of ties itself would not be possible without a solution to issues including the kidnapping issue," he added.

Japan and North Korea have been holding talks in Beijing under a new three-track format, the first high-level bilateral contact they've had since the two countries' representatives met in Malaysia in 2002.

(China Daily February 7, 2006)