Japan yesterday responded coolly to a suggestion from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister that Pyongyang would be open to improving ties, with a long-running kidnapping issue a major obstacle.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he wants to change the relationship between Tokyo and Pyongyang, and Kim Yo-jong on Thursday at a possible future invitation for the Japanese leader to visit North Korea.
Tokyo’s top government spokesman said only that Japan was “paying attention” to Kim Yo-jong’s comments.
Photo: AP
“Kishida has said he wants to have negotiations ... towards realizing a summit with [North Korean] President Kim Jong -un,” Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
However, North Korea’s “argument that the abduction issue has been resolved is fully unacceptable,” he said.
Kim Yo-jong said in a statement on Thursday that relations had deteriorated “since Japan has persistently raised as a precondition [to talks] the abduction issue, which had already been settled.”
However, the statement also said: “There will be no reason for the two countries not to become close and the day of the prime minister’s Pyongyang visit might come.”
North Korea in 2002 admitted that it had sent agents to kidnap 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s who were used to train spies in Japanese language and customs.
The abductions remain a potent and emotional issue in Japan and suspicions persist that many more were abducted than have been officially recognized.
Contention over the issue could hinder progress toward a summit between Kishida and Kim Jong-un, said Masao Okonogi, a North Korea expert and professor emeritus of Keio University.
“It looks unlikely that things will move forward soon,” because “there’s no benefit to Japan in holding a summit” if North Korea wants to ignore the abduction issue, he said.
Daisuke Kawai, deputy director of the University of Tokyo’s economic security research programme, agreed, saying there was a “clear misalignment” between the two countries on the issue.
“North Korea likely expects something in return for addressing the abduction issue,” he said.
“But there is nothing Japan can currently offer that would satisfy North Korea’s demands without significant concessions, such as recognizing North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs or easing sanctions,” he said.
Kishida expressed his wish to meet with North Korea’s leader “without any conditions,” saying in a speech at the UN General Assembly last year that Tokyo was willing to resolve all issues, including the kidnappings.
Kim Yo-jong’s statement came days after Seoul announced it was restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba, a longtime ally of North Korea, which had been broken off since 1959.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS