March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's denial that Japan forced Korean and other Asian women into sexual slavery during World War II has marginalized his country at the six-nation talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Japan wants North Korea to address the kidnapping of Japanese citizens 30 years ago before it provides energy aid as part of the talks in Beijing this week. Abe's comments on the forced prostitution have given the communist country the excuse not to address the subject.

``Abe has shot himself, and Japan, in both feet,'' said Kenneth Quinones, former U.S. State Department director of North Korean affairs and a professor at Akita International University in Japan. ``The hardliners in Pyongyang are thrilled. They can now blunt progress in their talks with Japan and point to Abe's remarks as their excuse.''

Abe's recent comments playing down Japan's role in forcing as many as 200,000 women into sexual slavery during World War II weren't directly addressed by participants in the disarmament talks. North Korea demanded that Japan stop raising the issue of Japanese abductees and implement the agreement with the U.S., China, South Korea and Russia, according to a commentary by the Korea Central News Agency today.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said yesterday night that Japan's refusal to provide any aid under the Feb. 13 accord until the abductee issue is resolved won't block the deal.

North Korea says there are no more surviving abductees, and has demanded instead that Japan apologize and compensate for its ``crimes in the past.''

Sexual Servitude

Abe on March 1 said there was ``no evidence'' that the military forced women into sexual servitude during Japan's occupation of Asia during World War II and his office released a report on March 16 backing his statement up.

As many as 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and China, served as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers during the war, and Abe has repeatedly said he supports a 1993 apology to the women.

Japan's denial of ``its sexual slavery is the most impudent action and distortion of historical facts,'' the Korea Central News Agency cited two groups saying today.

``All Abe and his officials are doing by talking about the abduction issue and the wartime sex slaves is isolating themselves from the rest of the participants of the six-nation talks,'' said Ryoo Kihl Jae, a North Korean studies professor at Kyungnam University in South Korea.''

U.S., North Korea Agreement

The U.S. and North Korea yesterday reached an agreement that will free about $25 million frozen in 2005 after the U.S. Treasury Department alleged the Macau lender laundered money for North Korea. Kim Jong Il's government demanded the return of the money before it complies with the Feb. 13 deal to shut its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.

Abe came under fire in his parliament because the agreement didn't mention the kidnappings, and talks between Japan and North Korea on the issue earlier this month ended without any progress. North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and allowed five to return in October 2002, saying the rest were dead. Japan says 17 people were taken and must be accounted for before it gives aid or lifts sanctions.

More could have been done in the talks between Japan and North Korea, Hill told reporters in Beijing today, adding that North Korea would not be able to ``drive any wedges'' between the U.S. and Japan.

Although it will insist otherwise, the U.S. may be willing to sacrifice Japan's position if it means taming a nuclear North Korea, analysts said.

American Sympathy?

``Japan is kidding itself if it thinks it's going to get in the way of the U.S. reaching an agreement with North Korea on nuclear weapons,'' said Gerald Curtis, a political scientist at Columbia University in New York specializing in U.S.-Japan relations. ``They've been sidelined since the last round. And it's hard to get the sympathy of America or anyone else on the abduction issue when you deny your own government's role in kidnapping and raping thousands of women.''

China and South Korea are also key to getting a disarmament deal with North Korea, and both governments have condemned Abe's remarks on the women forced into prostitution. The U.S., Japan's closest ally, is clearly unhappy as well. The House of Representatives is considering a nonbinding resolution calling on Japan to apologize and compensate the women.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer last week said ``the Japanese need to be aware that there is really no constituency for forced prostitution.''

``Somehow the connection has yet to be made between the abduction issue and the idea that Japan carried out the same crimes on a larger scale,'' said Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo. ``It's quite possible Japan will be further isolated given this disconnect.''

To contact the reporter on this story: John Brinsley in Tokyo at jbrinsley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 20, 2007 09:20 EDT