North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s influential sister has offered Japan a rare opportunity, saying she saw a positive tone in comments from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is seeking a summit.
Kim Yo Jong said in a press statement published on state media on Thursday that the leaders’ meeting would be possible if Japan “does not set up stumbling blocks such as the resolved abduction issue.”
“I believe that if Japan makes a political decision to bravely break through untimely hostility and unattainable aspirations, and open up new ways to repair relations through reciprocity and trustworthiness based on mutual recognition, the two countries can jointly develop The future of innovation,” the KCNA statement said.
The tone was a marked change from remarks she made nearly two years ago, when she lumped Japan into a group of “sinister” countries that she accused of fomenting a rabble at the United Nations over Pyongyang’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. She also delivered a speech with fiery and threatening language directed at the South Korean leader.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Hayashi Kyoshi, said on Friday that Tokyo was taking note of Kim Yo Jong’s comments. He also said it was “totally unacceptable” to think the kidnapping issue had been solved.
It is almost impossible for Kishida not to focus on the abductee issue, which has played a major role in the priorities of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party for years.
While North Korea appears to have a mildly favorable view of Japan, it has widened the gulf between it and Seoul. Last week, Kim Jong Un said he had the legal right to eliminate South Korea, the latest step in his new-year campaign to threaten neighboring countries by removing the concept of peaceful reunification from national policy.
North Korea faces new pressure as South Korea, Japan and the United States have taken cooperation to a new level over the past two years and stepped up military training to counter threats from Pyongyang. The United States has also been taking nuclear-capable military assets such as aircraft carrier groups and attack submarines away from the Korean peninsula in a show of force to deter Kim Jong Un’s aggression.
“North Korea is nervous about the strengthened trilateral partnership between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo,” said Shin Gak-soo, a former career diplomat who served as South Korea’s ambassador to Japan. “In order to undermine this strengthening relationship, North Korea appears to be exploiting the prime minister’s desire to open the door to Pyongyang,” adding that this could help Kishida boost his low approval ratings.
Shin thinks a summit is unlikely given the differences over the abductees and the thorny issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a rare letter to Kishida, expressing sympathy and condolences to the victims of the Japanese earthquake and extending an olive branch.
Kishida has long expressed his willingness to meet with Kim Jong-un unconditionally. He said last week that the Japanese government had made “various concrete” efforts for the summit aimed at resolving the long-pending issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea, Kyodo news agency reported.
Tokyo officially lists 17 citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, five of whom were returned in 2002. North Korea considers the issue resolved and has accused Japan of repeatedly raising the issue. North Korea claims eight of the abductees are dead and four others were never in North Korea.
Ahead of Kim Yo Jong’s statement, a senior State Department official dealing with Pyongyang said Kishida had previously mentioned a summit and that Washington would support the talks.
“We encourage any kind of dialogue,” Zheng Pu said in an interview.
North Korea has a habit of seeking concessions when engaging with countries it considers rivals, such as Japan. North Korea has refused to accept negotiating offers from the United States, Japan and South Korea over the past few years, and in recent months appears to have received significant support from Russia in exchange for Kim Jong Un’s regime seeking to launch an attack on Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin. War provides weapons in return.
In 2002, Junichiro Koizumi became the first Japanese Prime Minister to visit North Korea. Shortly thereafter, five Japanese abducted by North Korean agents in 1978 arrived in Tokyo and were reunited with their families. Junichiro Koizumi and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il also agreed to work toward establishing formal diplomatic relations, but that never materialized.
“Kim Yo Jong’s invitation to Kishida came with strings attached, which should make us question the sincerity of North Korea’s intentions,” said Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst on South Korea who now works at U.S. management consulting firm LMI. The official name of North Korea is Chosun.
“What’s more, the gap between North Korea and Japan is quite large. Is it that simple to thaw the relationship between the two countries?” she said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
