By Sakura Murakami
TOKYO (Reuters) – United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday stated he supported his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida’s makes an attempt to carry face-to-face talks with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un.
“I place confidence in Japan,” Biden informed reporters throughout Kishida’s state go to to Washington this week. “I believe looking for a dialogue with him is an effective factor.”
Kishida hopes to change into the primary Japanese chief in 20 years to carry management talks with nuclear-armed Pyongyang, however his prospects of doing so stay unclear.
WHY IS JAPAN SEEKING A SUMMIT?
Whereas Kishida says he’s keen to carry talks with out preconditions, the burning problem he desires to resolve is that of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea within the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.
The Japanese authorities has stated 17 individuals had been kidnapped by the reclusive state. 5 returned to Japan in 2002 following earlier summit talks, however 12 nonetheless stay unaccounted for.
North Korea has stated the difficulty is settled. It has beforehand stated that the unaccounted Japanese nationals had both died, or that it knew nothing about their whereabouts.
Resolving the abductee problem has broad public assist and Japan is being spurred to take motion whereas the aged relations of the abductees are nonetheless alive.
The poster baby of the abductees, Megumi Yokota, was simply 13 when she was kidnapped whereas strolling house from college in 1977. Her mom continues to foyer for her return regardless of North Korea saying she dedicated suicide.
At a gathering with the households final Could, Kishida stated he would straight oversee high-level discussions with North Korean counterparts to try to realise the summit.
IS NORTH KOREA OPEN TO IT?
North Korea has to this point been non-committal on Kishida’s repeated requires a summit.
Kim Yo Jong, the highly effective sister of North Korea’s chief, stated in February there isn’t a obstacle to nearer ties with Japan and there might come a day when Kishida visits Pyongyang, state information company KCNA reported.
Japan stated it could not touch upon the assertion however added North Korea’s place that the kidnapping problem had been resolved was unacceptable.
A month later, Kim Yo Jong issued one other assertion saying North Korea had no real interest in a summit with Japan and would reject any talks, based on KCNA.
Kim accused Tokyo of “clinging to the unattainable points,” the KCNA report stated.
HAS A SUMMIT HAPPENED BEFORE?
In a historic first, then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi travelled to Pyongyang to fulfill his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Il in 2002.
Though North Korea denied any involvement within the abductee problem, the 2002 summit proved to be a breakthrough with Kim Jong Il admitting to a number of the abductions.
Koizumi and Kim Jong Il met once more in Pyongyang in 2004, the final management talks between the 2 international locations.
Though Japanese and North Korean officers have had conferences since, ties have soured over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, with the North conducting quite a lot of take a look at launches and Japan labelling the nation a risk to regional stability.
COULD IT BACKFIRE?
With North Korea refusing to interact if the abductee problem is on the negotiating desk, Kishida dangers coming house empty-handed ought to he go to Pyongyang.
A failure to supply any tangible wins from partaking with a nuclear-armed state that has continued to launch missiles into waters surrounding Japan might damage Kishida’s already low home approval scores.
Though Kishida has expressed his need to fulfill with Kim Jong Un as early as doable, some authorities officers say privately it might be a politically dangerous gambit.