North Korean children have lunch at a nursery in Pouchon

"Food aid is a separate matter from the abductions," Koizumi said in the Diet during a debate with Katsuya Okada, head of the Democratic Party of Japan. "We will deliver it when we should through international organizations."

Okada said the government should set a deadline for a response from Pyongyang.

"If we continue as is, we will just be playing into their hands. This will just drag on," Okada said.

Okada suggested the government should at least freeze shipments of food aid to North Korea.

But Koizumi said Japan was trying to win a positive response from the North. "How are you going to negotiate if you have no forum for talks?" Koizumi asked, indicating he was concerned sanctions would disrupt discussions with the North.

Koizumi promised 250,000 tons of food aid and $10 million worth of medical aid at a May summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Japan has shipped half of the food -- wheat, corn, soy beans and edible oil -- it pledged to send to North Korea by next year through the World Food Program and other international aid agencies. It is planning to send the rest before April.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 27, 2004
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