North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, said on Monday that Pyongyang has received a summit proposal from Japan. Her comments came a month after she said the hermit state was open to enhancing its ties with Tokyo.
However, Kim said that improving bilateral relations between the two countries will depend on whether Japan can make practical political decisions.
“Recently, Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida conveyed to us through another channel his desire to meet directly with the chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the earliest possible time,” Kim Yo Jong said, cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Kim Jong Un is chairman or president of the State Affairs Commission. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the North's official name.
“As I have said before, it is Japan’s actual political determination that is crucial to opening a new avenue for improving bilateral relations,” Kim’s powerful sister said, adding that “mere willingness to engage in head-to-head talks is not enough to resolve the mistrust and misunderstanding between our two countries.”
“If Japan continues to interfere in the exercise of our sovereign rights, as it is doing now, and continues to focus on the abduction issue, which it has no ability to resolve or even understand, the Prime Minister’s initiatives will inevitably be viewed as little more than popularity stunts.”
Kim Yo Jong’s remarks came about a month after she said North Korea was open to enhancing its ties with Japan, even suggesting the possibility of inviting the Japanese prime minister to Pyongyang.
At that time, however, Kim Yo Jong stressed that the visit “might come” if Japan “drops its bad habit,” calling the abduction issue “already settled.”
The issue of abductions remains a significant obstacle to diplomatic normalization between North Korea and Japan.
Tokyo claims it has confirmed the abductions of 17 Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s for language education for North Korean spies, and 12 are still in the North.
Pyongyang contends that of the 12, eight have already died, and four never entered North Korea, asserting that there is no issue to be resolved.
In February, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said claims that the abduction issue has already been resolved were “completely unacceptable.”
He noted that “Japan has not changed its policy of comprehensively resolving issues such as abduction and nuclear and missile programs on the basis of the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration.”
The declaration was signed in 2002 after former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang.
It contained four sections: promoting talks on normalization of diplomatic relations, compensation based on reflection on past history, preventing the recurrence of “regrettable issues,” such as abductions, and establishing cooperation to resolve nuclear and missile issues.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
