Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has said she wants to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, something no Japanese leader has done in more than 20 years.
“We have already conveyed to North Korea our desire to hold a summit meeting,” Takaichi said Monday at a rally demanding the return of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea decades ago.
The issue is one of the unresolved pain points between the two neighbors divided by sea, whose long history of colonization and conflict has doomed previous attempts at bilateral talks.
“I want the leaders to face each other directly and achieve concrete results,” Takaichi said. “I am determined to break through and resolve the abduction issue during my tenure.”
Japanese Citizens Held in North Korea
Japan says at least 17 of its citizens were snatched by North Korean agents in the late 1970s and 1980s. Five citizens were returned in 2002. The abductions appear to have been part of North Korea’s espionage program, according to a 2014 UN report.
Pyongyang disputes the total number taken and says some died in traffic and drowning accidents, as well as suicide, and it considers the matter over.
Takaichi has met with the abductees’ families twice since taking office, including once with US President Donald Trump during his visit to Japan. She has previously said she’s committed to completing the mission of her mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who introduced the abductees’ families to Trump during the US president’s first term.
Earlier North Korea – Japan Summit
The two countries held an unprecedented summit in 2002, with Japan’s then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visiting the North Korean capital Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong Il the father of now-leader Kim Jong Un.
That visit was the first time a Japanese prime minister visited North Korea since the end of WWII. It was also the first time North Korea acknowledged its role in the abductions, after many years of denial.
Kim Jong Il offered an apology at the time, saying the agents responsible had been punished, and promised to prevent it happening again, according to Japanese government statements at the time. The five detainees were returned to Japan the following month and reunited with their families – 20 to 30 years after their abduction.
Koizumi returned to North Korea to meet Kim Jong Il a second time in 2004, during which the family members of several abductees were also allowed to return to Japan.
No further repatriations have happened since then and no progress has been made in talks between the two countries, despite repeated efforts by successive governments.