North Korea, Japan Will Talk Next Week

Longtime enemies North Korea and Japan announced Friday they will hold talks next week aimed at eventually establishing diplomatic relations.

The talks, to be held Thursday in Beijing, would be a breakthrough for Tokyo and Pyongyang, which never have had formal relations and often are embroiled in disputes.

North Korea has never forgiven Japan for its colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, its support of the United States during the 1950-53 Korean War, and the close relations that Tokyo established with South Korea after the war.

The two countries have held eight rounds of normalization talks without success.

Still, a warmer relationship could help North Korea get more Japanese food aid to help ward off a looming famine. Japan provided $5.2 million in food aid last year, but has refused to pledge any more.