An Opportunity Lost

Why Japan and North Korea Failed to Establish Diplomatic Relations in the 1970s

Abstract

North Korea is the only UN member state with which Japan does not have diplomatic relations. Japan-North Korea relations have furthermore been deadlocked for more than two decades over the issue of abducted Japanese citizens. The prevalence of the abduction issue makes it hard to imagine the possibility of good relations between the two countries. But in the 1970s, such a possibility did exist. This article reviews Japan-North Korea relations in the first half of the 1970s, a unique period when the conditions seemed ripe for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. We investigate how this under-researched period in Japan-North
Korea relations provided a realistic opportunity for diplomatic relations, why Japan nonetheless chose not to act on this opportunity, and what the period teaches us about the prospect of normalized relations between the two countries today.