North Korea to focus on hijackers instead of abductees
The Asahi Shimbun / Aug 11North Korea likely will raise the prospect of handing over four Japanese Red Army fugitives during working-level talks starting today in Beijing rather than offer tangible results on the fate of 10 missing Japanese, government sources said. A lack of progress in the abduction issue could trigger a domestic backlash...
"Backlash" is an understatement since pictures of the abductees are being shown 24/7 on TV and the press here.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3552072.stm