Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared his undying dedication on Thursday to pursue a summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. The objective of this summit would be to help with the return of Japanese citizens who were allegedly abducted by North Korean agents during the 1970s and 80s.
He told reporters, "I remain committed to realizing this for Japan," but he didn't say anything about North Korea's recent remarks that implied such a meeting would only take place if Japan gave up on pursuing the abductions issue.
Japan's Talks with North Korea Amid Nuclear Concerns
As concerns about neighboring North Korea's nuclear and missile programs deepen, Kishida emphasized at a press conference following the government budget's passage by parliament that he was actively engaged in high-level talks to resolve a number of bilateral issues.
The late Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il, informed then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2002 that its operatives had abducted thirteen Japanese people throughout the 1970s and 1980s, allowing five of them to return home.
As per the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement that Kishida "conveyed his intention to personally meet the President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as soon as possible."
Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, made a suggestion last month that the Japanese prime minister may get an invitation to visit North Korea in the future.
The "history of the DPRK-Japan relations gives a lesson that it is impossible to improve the bilateral relations full of distrust and misunderstanding," she included, if Tokyo makes a significant shift in policy.
Kishida's wants for better ties would not come to pass if Japan remained to be "engrossed in the abduction issue that has no further settlement," she said.
On Monday, Kishida declared that high-level negotiations with North Korea were "important" but admitted that he was unaware of the KCNA report and abstained from commenting specifically on its contents.
"Top-level talks are important for Japan-North Korea relations to resolve issues like the abduction issue," Kishida remarked in parliament, alluding to the kidnappings that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.
"This is why we have been making various approaches to North Korea at the level directly under my control, as I have said in the past," according to France24.
Japan-North Korea Summit Talks Amid Nuclear Tensions
In 2002, North Korea acknowledged that it had dispatched operatives to abduct thirteen Japanese individuals throughout the 1970s and 1980s for the purpose of teaching spies about Japanese language and culture.
In Japan, kidnappings continue to be a sensitive and emotive topic, and there are persistent rumors that much more people were taken than have been publicly acknowledged.
North Korea admitted after years of denial that its operatives had kidnapped the 13 Japanese during an extraordinary 2002 meeting between then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and late Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il. Japan suspects that North Korea utilized their expertise in Japanese language and culture for training purposes.
At the last meeting between the two nations in 2004, Koizumi paid a second visit to North Korea and reconnected with Kim Jong Il.
A potential second summit is being discussed amid worries that North Korea would step up its weapons tests in this year's elections in South Korea and the United States. According to experts, North Korea's objective would be to leverage an expanded weapons arsenal in order to secure concessions from the US, such as the lifting of sanctions imposed due to Pyongyang's nuclear program.
North Korea may wait for South Korean and US elections before resuming diplomatic relations. If Japan normalizes relations, the poor North may want $500 million or more in economic aid.
Analyst Moon Seong Mook of the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy states that North Korea may demand the current worth of Japanese aid South Korea got in 1965 when they restored relations. Kishida is unlikely to violate Japanese public opinion on abduction or U.N. nuclear bans.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry is carefully discussing Tokyo-Pyongyang ties and North Korea's nuclear problem with Japan. North Korea's growing nuclear and missile arsenals threaten Japan, South Korea, and the US.
After the North's provocative missile tests in 2022, the three nations increased their trilateral military drills. North Korea's official media reported that Kim Jong Un watched a tank practice and urged his armed troops to prepare for war amid rising tensions with South Korea, AP News reported.
