The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presented Japan with a unique opportunity, stating that she saw a hopeful tone in remarks made by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is attempting to arrange a meeting.
In a press release released by official media on Thursday, Kim Yo Jong said that a summit of leaders might take place provided Japan “does not lay such a stumbling block as the already settled abduction issue.”
The statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency stated, “It is my opinion that the two countries can open up a new future together if Japan makes a political decision to open up a new way of mending the relations through its courteous behavior and trustworthy action on the basis of courageously breaking with anachronistic hostility and unattainable desire and recognizing each other.”
The tone is quite different from what she said almost two years ago when she called Japan one of several “sinister” countries that were berating Pyongyang for its intercontinental ballistic missile test at the UN. She has also threatened and used venomous language in speeches that she has given to the leaders of South Korea.
Leader Kim Jong Un also extended an olive branch last month by sending Kishida a rare communication expressing his sympathies and sorrow for the victims of the Japanese disaster.
Even while North Korea seems to be becoming more amiable toward Japan, it has further distanced itself from Seoul. In his most recent attempt to intimidate his neighbor, Kim Jong Un said last week that his state’s national policy no longer includes the idea of peaceful unification. He had already declared that he had the legal authority to completely destroy South Korea.
Kishida has said for a long time that he is open to meeting Kim Jong Un without demands. According to Kyodo News, he said last week that his administration has undertaken “various, concrete” measures for a meeting aimed at resolving the long-standing problem of Japanese being kidnapped by North Korea.
Officially, Tokyo records that 17 of its nationals were kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s; five of them made their way back home in 2002. North Korea has denounced Japan for persistently bringing up the matter, which it views as resolved. Eight of the abductees, according to North Korea, have died, and the remaining four were never on its territory.
Although Kishida’s government’s dismal approval rating would be improved by a meeting with Kim Jong Un, it would be very difficult for him to ignore the abductee problem, which has long been a top concern for his governing Liberal Democratic Party.
Before Kim Yo Jong’s comments, a senior US State Department official in charge of handling relations with Pyongyang said that Kishida had previously brought up a meeting and that Washington would back negotiations.
“We support all forms of communication,” Jung Pak said in an interview.
North Korea often demands concessions in exchange for interaction with nations it considers rivals, including Japan. It has turned down offers of negotiations over the last several years from the US, Japan, and South Korea, and in recent months, it seems to be getting a lot of backing from Russia in exchange for weapons that Kim’s dictatorship supplied to President Vladimir Putin to aid him in his conflict with Ukraine.
The first Japanese prime minister to visit North Korea was Junichiro Koizumi in 2002. Not long after, five Japanese who had been abducted by North Korean operatives in 1978 were returned to their families in Tokyo. Koizumi and Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea at the time, also decided to work toward establishing official diplomatic ties, but that never materialized.