Japan, N. Korea to Work Toward Settlement of Outstanding Issues

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Japanese and North Korean senior diplomats on Sunday agreed to work toward the settlement of "outstanding issues" as the two governments held formal talks for the first time since November 2012. The meeting, to run through Monday in Beijing, comes amid recent mixed signals from North Korea over its willingness to re-engage in diplomacy, according to (Kyodo) news agency. At issue is whether North Korea will agree to fulfill its promise to reinvestigate the cases of Japanese nationals it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador for talks to normalize relations with Japan, compared the resumption of governmental dialogue to the arrival of spring, "when icy rivers melt and water begins to flow."