Tokyo
—
Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has said she wants to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, something a Japanese leader has not done in more than 20 years.
“We have already informed North Korea of our intention to hold a summit,” Takaichi said Monday at a rally calling for the return of Japanese people abducted by North Korea decades ago.
The issue is one of the unresolved issues between the two neighbors, separated by the sea, and previous attempts at bilateral talks have failed due to a long history of colonization and conflict.
Takaichi said, “I would like the leaders to meet directly and achieve concrete results.” “I am determined to overcome and resolve the abduction issue during my term of office.”
Japan has announced that at least 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents in the late 1970s and 1980s. Five citizens were returned in 2002. A 2014 United Nations report said the abduction appeared to be part of North Korea’s espionage efforts.
North Korea disputes the death toll, saying some people died in traffic accidents, water accidents and suicide, and considers the issue over.
However, the families of the missing Japanese abductees, some of whom were still teenagers, have not received any solutions or relief. They have continued to pursue the issue, along with a revolving door of Japanese leaders over the years, with little success.
Since taking office, Takaichi has met with the families of abductees twice, including once with US President Donald Trump during his visit to Japan. She has previously said she is committed to carrying out the mission of her mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who introduced the families of abductees to President Trump during his first term as president.
The two countries held an unprecedented summit in 2002, when then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited North Korea’s capital Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un.
This visit is the first time a Japanese prime minister has visited North Korea since World War II.
This is the first time North Korea has admitted any involvement in the abductions, after years of denials. According to a statement from the Japanese government at the time, Kim Jong-il apologized at the time, said those responsible had been punished, and promised to prevent a recurrence.
The five detainees returned to Japan the following month and were reunited with their families 20 to 30 years after their abduction.
In 2004, Prime Minister Koizumi visited North Korea for a second meeting with Kim Jong Il, during which the families of several abductees were also allowed to return home.
No further repatriations have taken place since then, and despite repeated efforts by successive governments, negotiations between the two countries have made no progress.
Prime Minister Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, had indicated his intention to meet with Kim Jong-un without conditions to improve bilateral relations. A few years later, then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also announced his intention to meet with the North Korean leader.
Each time, the meeting never materialized. Takaichi, who took office after winning an election in October, now hopes to be the solver, inheriting the decades-old problems that have plagued his predecessors.
