Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean intelligence. This is reported by TASS in reference to the Kyodo agency.
According to the head of the Japanese government in a meeting with the families of the kidnapped, it is very important that the leaders of the two countries see the general picture and openly express their positions on this problem.
At the same time, as the agency responds, when he gave his first speech to parliament a few days earlier, Ishiba, unlike his predecessors, did not mention his willingness to meet with Kim Jong-un.
Shinzo Abe first expressed his determination to meet with the DPRK leader without preconditions in 2018, after which this position became consistent for the Japanese government.
In 2002, Pyongyang admitted for the first time to the kidnapping of 13 Japanese citizens and allowed 5 of them to return to their homeland. The rest were declared dead and their remains were sent to their relatives, whose authenticity could not be confirmed.
In May 2014, the governments of Japan and the DPRK agreed to conduct a new investigation into the abductions of Japanese citizens, but the commission involved was later dissolved at Pyongyang’s initiative.
The issue of the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korean intelligence is one of the most painful in relations between two States, between which there are no official diplomatic relations.
