North Korea says Japan's Kishida wants to meet Kim Jong Un
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[March 25, 2024]
SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the
powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Monday that Japanese
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had conveyed his intention to meet the
North Korean leader, state media reported.
But Kim said that improving relations between the two countries will
depend on whether Japan, which occupied the Korean peninsula from
1910-45, can make practical political decisions.
"The prime minister should know that just because he wants to and has
made a decision, it doesn't mean he can or the leadership of our country
will meet him," Kim was quoted as saying in the KCNA report in Korean.
She was quoted as saying Kishida had made his intention known through
"another channel", without giving details.
"What is clear is that when Japan antagonises the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea and violates its sovereign rights, it is considered
our enemy and will become part of the target," Kim added.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the North's official name.
Relations between the two countries have been strained over disputes
dating back to Japan's occupation.
Koreans accuse Japan of forcing women to work in wartime brothels for
the Japanese military and using forced labour, among other issues.
Asked about the media reports on Kim's comment, Kishida reiterated the
importance of a summit to resolve issues such as the matter of Japanese
citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents decades ago.
"Nothing has been decided for now," Kishida told reporters on Monday
when asked about a summit.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Mar/25/images/ads/current/danieleeten_sda_SFARM_2024.png)
North Korea admitted in 2002 to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens decades
earlier. Five abductees and their families later returned to Japan,
saying the others had died.
However, Tokyo believes 17 Japanese were abducted, and continues to
investigate the fate of those who didn't return, according to Japanese
media.
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![](../images/032524PIX/news_f8.jpg)
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, arrives at
the Vostochny Сosmodrome before a meeting of Russia's President
Vladimir Putin with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, in the far
eastern Amur region, Russia, September 13, 2023. Sputnik/Vladimir
Smirnov/Pool via REUTERS/ File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Mar/25/images/ads/current/graue_lda_chevyblazer4129_031824.jpg)
Japan's top government spokesperson, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said North
Korea's assertion that the abduction issue had been resolved is
"totally unacceptable", underscoring potential obstacles to amending
ties.
Kishida has said he wants to hold talks with Kim Jong Un "without
any preconditions" and is personally overseeing efforts to realise
the first such summit in 20 years.
An official at South Korea's foreign ministry, who asked to remain
unidentified, said Seoul was in close talks with Tokyo on a range of
issues related to North Korea including contacts between Japan and
the North.
"South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are closely cooperating to bring
North back to the path to denuclearisation," the official said in a
statement.
North Korea has long been banned from conducting nuclear tests and
ballistic missile launches by the 15-member U.N. Security Council.
It has been subject to U.N. sanctions since 2006.
Kim's sister, who serves in the ruling Workers' Party, last month
said Kishida may one day visit Pyongyang.
"If Japan ... makes a political decision to open a new path for
improving ties based on mutual respect and respectful behaviour, it
is my view that the two countries can open a new future," KCNA
quoted her saying.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul, Shinichi Uchida and Kiyoshi
Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by Michael Perry, Christian Schmollinger
and Nick Macfie)
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