북핵문제에 대한 일본의 인식과 대응

Abstract

This paper attempts to clarify how Japanese government has recognized and coped with North Korea’s nuclear development suspicions, missile launch test in 1990s and nuclear test in October 2006. Fukuda Yasuo administration, which took power on September 25, 2007, hopes to develop ‘the Asian Diplomacy’ which is intended to build a strong relationship with China, refered to as the ‘Strategic Partnership’, and to make better relations with South and North Korea. Especially on the policy toward North Korea, Fukuda administration indicated a more flexible one which seeks a way of resolution regarding its nuclear ambitions, past abductions, and normalization issues than the one Abe Shinzo administration presented. The previous administration’s hard-line policy placed a higher priority on solving the abduction issues than dealing with the nuclear and history issues. Recently, the Fukuda administration has promoted experts who have a detailed knowledge of North Korea for seeking a solution on the North Korea issues. We can say that it is Fukuda administration’s intention to solve North Korea issues which were mentioned the above. Considering the situation, this paper attempts to examine the Japanese government’s perception in the past and present in addition to the type of reaction taken in terms of North Korea’s nuclear issues.