Katsuei Hirasawa

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who told reporters he only learned of the trip from newspapers, criticized the unauthorized visit by Hirasawa and Taku Yamasaki, both Liberal-Democratic Party members, saying intergovernmental talks should be the only channel for bilateral negotiations.

But Yamasaki, who no longer has a Diet seat following his defeat in the November general election, told reporters upon returning from the two-day trip to Dalian, northeastern China, that he expects working-level bilateral talks between Japan and North Korea to resume soon.

Yamasaki said that he and Hirasawa met with Jong Thae Hwa, North Korea's top negotiator in bilateral normalization talks with Japan.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 10, 2004
(C) All rights reserved