North Korea says Japan’s prime minister proposed summit with leader Kim Jong Un
North Korea has said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has proposed a summit with leader Kim Jong Un.
Mr Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, made the comments in a state media dispatch on Monday.
Japan’s government did not immediately respond to the North Korean announcement.
She said Mr Kishida used an unspecified channel to convey his position that he wants to meet Mr Kim at an early date, but said improving bilateral ties hinges on Japan.
“If Japan continues to try to interfere with our exercise of our sovereign rights, and continues to be preoccupied with the abduction issue, of which there is nothing more to resolve or investigate, then the prime minister’s (offer for talks) will inevitably be labelled as just an attempt to improve his popularity,” she said.
“As long as Japan is hostile toward (North Korea) and infringes our sovereign rights, we will consider it as an enemy that is within our target, not as a friend. The prime minister should know that he won’t be able to meet the leadership of our country just because he wants to or just because he’s determined to.”
In February, Kim Yo Jong issued a similar statement on bilateral ties, saying North Korea was open to improving relationships with Japan and even inviting Kishida to Pyongyang.
She said if Mr Kishida sticks to his push to resolve the alleged past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea, he cannot avoid criticism that he would only pursue talks to boost his popularity.
Mr Kishida has said previously that he believes a summit with Mr Kim is important in various ways, including solving the problem of the abducted Japanese citizens.
Japanese media reported he said he was not aware of the North Korean announcement when he was asked about it in parliament on Monday.
North Korea and Japan do not have diplomatic ties and their relations have been overshadowed by North Korea’s nuclear programme, the North’s past abduction of Japanese nationals and Japan’s 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Some experts say North Korea is seeking to improve ties with Japan as a way to weaken a trilateral Tokyo-Seoul-Washington security partnership, while Mr Kishida also wants better ties with North Korea to increase his declining approval rating at home.
The US and South Korea have been expanding their military drills and trilateral exercises involving Japan in response to North Korea’s run of weapons tests since 2022.
