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Japan and North Korea began their official talks for diplomatic normalization in 1991. Sixteen years have passed since then. Yet it is uncertain when they can finally reach diplomatic normalization. During their first summit meeting of September 2002, Japan has promised to provide a massive economic aid to North Korea after diplomatic normalization, estimated at approximately 1 trillion yen, virtually as a compensation for Japan's colonial rule of Korea. The money would be a great asset to the North Korean economy and can serve as a major incentive for DRPK's denuclearization. Thus, the normalization has a strong bearing on the regional security of Northeast Asia. However, diplomatic normalization is not yet in sight. The paper will focus on key factors for delaying normalized relations between the two countries. It will discuss changes in the eagerness of Japan and North Korea for normalization, with a greater focus on recent changes, analyzing the factors that prompted the changes, including domestic and international as well as historical, economic, military factors. The paper will also consider the future prospects for normalization. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent bilateral relations between Japan and North Korea are the worse they have been in many years. Several major problems still impede the normalization of Japan-North Korea relations. These problems, but particularly the abduction of Japanese nationals during the 1970s and 1980s by North Korean agents and Japan's past annexation of Korea, continue to strain this bilateral relationship. Pyongyang's decisions in 2006 to launch a series of missiles and then to detonate a nuclear device created even more problems for the already bad relationship between Japan and North Korea. Caught in the middle of a these bilateral problems, which have palpably increased tension between Tokyo and Pyongyang, are the many thousands of Korean residents in Japan who have maintained their political allegiance to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Represented by Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) for more than fifty years, these Koreans loyal to the DPRK, like all zainichi (Koreans permanently living in Japan), have long faced discrimination in Japanese society. However, of late the members of Chongryon also have had to contend with the political fallout from the visible deterioration in Japan-North Korean relations, which has been exacerbated by Tokyo's adoption of a hard-line policy toward the DPRK. This paper examines the politically connected problems that Chongryon Koreans have recently experienced in Japan, as well as the extent to which this ethno-political minority has been subjected to repression by the Japanese government, as claimed by these Koreans and by Pyongyang. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's North Korea policy throughout the postwar period was dictated by its need to maintain its alliance with the United States to secure its own peace. The U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework did not alter Japan's fundamental policy toward North Korea. The current nuclear crisis and the prospect of a nuclear North Korea is forcing Tokyo to review its approach to Pyongyang. Japan supports the six-party talks as a means to solve the nuclear crisis, but it is increasingly aware that the multilateral framework may not be able to produce an outcome acceptable to both North Korea (the source of Japan's security anxiety) and the United States (the most reliable security ally), as well as to the other regional powers. A nuclear North Korea would spell an end to the Pyongyang Declaration, in which Japan and North Korea stated that normalization of their bilateral relations would contribute to the broader regional peace and stability. It would force Japan to reconsider its security policy in a fundamental way, with far reaching implications for Japan's relations with the other neighboring countries. This paper will discuss Japan's current policy toward the North Korean nuclear crisis and the implications of a nuclear North Korea for Japan's relations with the United States and other neighboring countries. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That China has been politically and economically playing an important role in the world has great impact to regions all over the world, especially in East Asia. After the Cold War, Japan has gradually walked out of its past "one nation pacifism," actively participating in the international affairs under frameworks of "U.S.-Japan alliance" and the U.N. It is to fulfill its dream of becoming a "political great power." Therefore, Japan has also been playing an important role in the regional issues. On November 2002, North Korea decided to reactivate its uranium-enriching program. It has raised the tension in the region of East Asia; it has also disturbed international relations in the region. The U.S. expects China and Japan, two great powers in the Northeast Asia, intervene in the North Korea problem, hoping to solve the problem with multi-literal agreement. Can the North Korea nuclear crisis shorten the diplomatic distance between China and Japan, establishing the "military strategic partnership," or showing the radical paradox between the two countries? Examining interactions between China and Japan in the North Korea nuclear crisis can clarify the thinking of two countries' regional strategies and benefits of competition and cooperation in politic, security, and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]