THE BEST DEFENSE:

N.Korea demands aid and apology from Tokyo (Straits Times, 10/30/02)

North Korea demanded that Japan apologise and pay for its past colonial domination as the two sides met on Wednesday for a final day of talks overshadowed by Pyongyang's refusal to end its nuclear weapons programme.

Signs were surfacing that tempers were becoming frayed during the first attempt in two years to normalise diplomatic ties between the historic foes, with each side pursuing a totally different agenda and North Korea warning that it was running out of patience.

Japan wants to concentrate on the nuclear issue and North Korea's abduction years ago of at least 13 Japanese citizens to help its spies perfect their cover.

Pyongyang, on the other hand, wants to talk about an apology from Tokyo for its colonisation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945 and its demand for financial atonement. [...]

Roving ambassador Jong Thae Hwa said: 'Historically speaking, it is clear that Japan should apologise to the Korean people and compensate for our mental and physical suffering and damage.'

The impoverished communist state is seeking as much as US$10 billion (S$17.7 billion) from Japan.

One can hardly wait for Jimmy Carter to find a way to blame this animus on the United States. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 30, 2002 10:22 AM