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PacNet #18 – Abduction Diplomacy and the Six-Party Talks

It has been a busy month in Tokyo. High-level representatives from several nations trying to negotiate a nuclear weapon-free Korean Peninsula gathered on the sidelines of an academic meeting to see if the Six-Party Talks can be restarted after a long hiatus. While all eyes were focused on whether U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill would meet with his North Korean counterpart (he didn’t), there was a dramatic development in the tragic saga of Japanese and South Korean citizens abducted by North Korean agents for spy training in the 1970s and 1980s, one that presents both opportunities and challenges.