By Sebastian Maslow
Japan and North Korea appear to have just enough leverage for legitimate negotiations.
Seeking to grasp the shift in Japan’s foreign and security policy since his return to the post of Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe’s critics have called him many things – revisionist, conservative, hawkish and nationalist, for instance. Pragmatist, however, was not among the many labels attributed to him. As Abe is rigorously demanding a comprehensive revision of Japan’s defense and security architecture, including the exercise of collective self-defense, he has put his nation on track for an accelerated departure from its pacifist postwar regime. Framing North Korea as an imminent security threat has been key in pushing many of these changes since the early 2000s.
Pledging the restoration of a “strong Japan” able to use its military capabilities, the North Korean threat occupies a central spot in Abe’s revisionist agenda. As such, Abe’s ascendancy is closely linked to his support of the “abduction lobby” which has converged over the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s. Hence, in light of the unresolved kidnappings, and the strong political influence of the abduction lobby in Japan, many have expressed their doubts regarding Abe’s ability to break the current deadlock, as the two countries’ move towards normalizing diplomatic relations. Recent developments, however, indicate that Abe is indeed willing to engage North Korea and thus bring the “lost decade” in Japan-North Korea relations to an end. The result of this return to pragmatism in Japan’s DPRK policy is a series of informal and formal talks with the North since October 2013, which culminated in a meeting between director-general level foreign ministry officials taking place in Stockholm between May 26-28. This meeting produced a surprising pledge by North Korea to reopen investigations into the abduction cases.
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