Abe ready to meet Kim after Trump-Kim summit

UNITED NATIONS • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was willing to meet Mr Kim Jong Un after the once reclusive North Korean leader's historic summit with US President Donald Trump.

Mr Abe, who one year ago warned at the United Nations that the window for diplomacy with North Korea was closing, took a more open but still cautious tone in his latest address to the world body on Tuesday.

But he said that any summit would be devoted to resolving a row over North Korea's abductions of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.

"In order to resolve the abduction issue, I am also ready to break the shell of mutual distrust with North Korea, get off to a new start and meet face to face with Chairman Kim Jong Un," he said, but stressed that no summit was yet in the works.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Competition fine, but not Cold War attitude: China

BEIJING • China and the United States can compete, but should not view each other with a Cold War mentality, the Chinese government's top diplomat said.

Beijing and Washington are locked in an increasingly bitter trade war and are increasingly at odds over other issues, such as US support for self-ruled Taiwan which China claims, and US sanctions on China's military for buying Russian weapons.

At a meeting with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger on Tuesday on the sidelines of a UN meeting, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said the two countries would only lose if they confronted each other. "China and the United States can have competition, but should not use a Cold War mentality to view each other, nor should they slip into the trap of a zero-sum game," a Foreign Ministry statement quoted Mr Wang as saying.

REUTERS

South Korean President sings Kim's praises

NEW YORK • While Mr Kim Jong Un is not attending the UN General Assembly this week, he had what amounted to a de facto spokesman singing his praises: South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

In speeches and television appearances, Mr Moon portrayed Mr Kim as a normal world leader who wants to bring economic prosperity to his people. The two leaders have held three summits this year.

Mr Moon made no mention of atrocities that prompted US President Donald Trump to call North Korea a "cruel dictatorship" during his State of the Union address in January.

"Kim Jong Un is young, very candid and polite... I believe that Kim Jong Un is sincere and he will abandon nuclear weapons in exchange for economic development," Mr Moon told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday.

BLOOMBERG