United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he supported his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida’s attempts to hold face-to-face talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“I have faith in Japan,” Biden told reporters during Kishida’s state visit to Washington this week. “I think seeking a dialogue with him is a good thing.”
Kishida hopes to become the first Japanese leader in 20 years to hold leadership talks with nuclear-armed Pyongyang, but his prospects of doing so remain unclear.
WHY IS JAPAN SEEKING A SUMMIT?
While Kishida says he is willing to hold talks without preconditions, the burning issue he wants to resolve is that of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.The Japanese government has said 17 people were kidnapped by the reclusive state.
Five returned to Japan in 2002 following previous summit talks, but 12 still remain unaccounted for.North Korea has said the issue is settled. It has previously said that the unaccounted Japanese nationals had either died, or that it knew nothing about their whereabouts.
Resolving the abductee issue has broad public support and Japan is being spurred to take action while the elderly family members of the abductees are still alive.
The poster child of the abductees, Megumi Yokota, was just 13 when she was kidnapped while walking home from school in 1977. Her mother continues to lobby for her return despite North Korea saying she committed suicide.
At a meeting with the families last May, Kishida said he would directly oversee high-level discussions with North Korean counterparts to try and realise the summit.
IS NORTH KOREA OPEN TO IT?
North Korea has so far been non-committal on Kishida’s repeated calls for a summit.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, said in February there is no impediment to closer ties with Japan and there may come a day when Kishida visits Pyongyang, state news agency KCNA reported.
Japan said it would not comment on the statement but added North Korea’s position that the abduction issue had been resolved was unacceptable.
