Japan PM Takaichi’s summit proposal gets no reply from North Korea
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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was said to have broached the idea to North Korea immediately after she took office.
PHOTO: AFP
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TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s proposal for a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has not received a reply from Pyongyang, government sources said on Nov 4.
Ms Takaichi had broached the idea to North Korea immediately after she took office on Oct 21, they said. The revelations came after the Prime Minister said she made the proposal at a gathering on Nov 3 in Tokyo to call for the resolution of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara declined to comment on the details of North Korea’s reaction during a press conference on Nov 4, saying only that the Japanese government is approaching Pyongyang “through various channels”.
Japan’s government officially lists 17 people as abducted in the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea and suspects Pyongyang’s involvement in many other disappearances.
Five were repatriated in October 2002 following landmark talks between then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang the previous month.
Since Mr Koizumi visited Pyongyang and met Mr Kim Jong Il again in 2004, there has been no summit between the two nations’ leaders.
North Korea, with which Japan has no diplomatic ties, maintains that the abductions issue has already been resolved.
Mr Kihara, who also serves as minister in charge of the abductions issue, reiterated the Japanese government’s stance on Nov 4 that it will “do everything to ensure that all victims can return home as soon as possible”.
Ms Takaichi said during the rally on the abductions issue that she wants to speak frankly with the North Korean leader and vowed to seek “a breakthrough” during her term and resolve the matter.
During a flurry of diplomatic events last week in Japan and other parts of Asia, Ms Takaichi sought support from US President Donald Trump in settling the issue and exchanged views on the North Korean situation with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China has traditionally been an ally of North Korea, and Ms Takaichi may have also sought cooperation from Beijing on the abductions issue.
However, the prospects are unclear, with Ms Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, issuing a statement in March 2024 expressing rejection of any further contact or negotiations with Japan.
In South Korea, the country’s spy agency said that its analysis indicates Mr Kim Jong Un is willing to hold dialogue with the United States and will engage “once conditions are met”, citing a possible shift after a US-South Korea joint military exercise in March 2026.
The National Intelligence Service also said it detected signs that North Korea had been making behind-the-scenes preparations for a possible summit with the United States around the time of last week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea. The summit, however, did not materialise.
The agency’s assessment was reported during a closed-door parliamentary audit session.
Mr Trump met Mr Kim three times between 2018 and 2019 during his first term as US president, but talks on Pyongyang’s denuclearisation failed to make headway. KYODO NEWS
