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The present crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs obliges us not only to ponder Korean issues extremely carefully, but also to subject the complex interstate relations of the six parties involved to closer scrutiny. One example of those relations is Russo-Japanese relations. Accordingly, this article examines the role that the Korean issue, particularly North Korea’s aggressive nuclear and missile programs and the consequences thereof, play in Russo-Japanese relations and the efforts to normalize them. We find that not only do North Korea’s actions exacerbate the contradictions between Moscow and Tokyo, but Russia is also unprepared to make any concessions to Japan on any of the major security issues in the bilateral relationship’s agenda, including the North Korean issue. This fact calls into question the soundness of Tokyo’s assessment of prospects for this normalization and the likelihood of Tokyo achieving its hope for goals from this process.
