Northern policy and Japan: North Korea‐Japan normalization negotiations and Japanese policy towards North Korea

This paper seeks to examine the reality of the North Korea‐Japan negotiations, which have continued intermittently for more than 13 years since Kanemaru's visit to North Korea. It also analyzes Japanese foreign policy toward the North during the normalization negotiations at both international and domestic levels, and studies the effect that the normalization of relations of the two neighbor states will have on the Korean peninsula. To conclude, it argues that Japan's engagement policy would be expected to contribute to the stability and peace of the Korean peninsula and East Asia.