TOKYO -- With his cabinet's popularity hitting new lows according to a poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the opportunity of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's visit last week to highlight one of his pet issues -- the abduction by North Korean agents of up to 20 Japanese citizens. Abe's tough stance on North Korea has always been a political trump card for him, bringing him to prominence under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. During Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang in 2002, he led negotiations on behalf of the families of those abducted, and then cemented his position as front runner in his party's leadership race last year with his tough rhetoric following North Korea's decision to test seven ballistic missiles in July. However, some observers, both inside and outside Japan, have begun to question the country's hard line against North Korea, arguing that Japan runs the risk of isolating itself, not least in the six-party effort aimed at resolving the problem of North Korea's nuclear program.
Some Question Japan’s Hard Line Against N. Korea on Abductee Issue
