After years of diplomatic isolation, suddenly everyone wants to talk to Kim Jong Un.
Plans are also underway for a potential meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump sometime later this year.
“Japan and North Korea have been negotiating through various opportunities and in various channels, such as through the embassy in Beijing,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday, following reports in the Japanese press that Tokyo was becoming “increasingly worried about being left out of the loop regarding North Korea.”
Out of the loop
Since tensions suddenly relaxed in January — when North Korea reopened diplomatic ties with the South and agreed to participate in the Winter Olympics — Japan has been noticeably left out.
Following the Olympics, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seemed to be in lockstep with the US when he said “dialogue for the sake of dialogue would be meaningless.”
Within weeks however, Trump had agreed to a meeting with Kim, leaving Japan in the lurch.
“Japan was completely blindsided by Trump,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Tokyo’s Temple University. “Until then, Abe thought they were on the same page.”
Japan’s new ambassador to Washington, Shinsuke Sugiyama, told CNN that Tokyo’s “fundamental posture has not changed” toward North Korea.
“We are in the midst of possibly a new beginning. Possibly not,” Sugiyama said. “We’ll see.”
Before a Trump-Kim summit was on the table, Abe’s administration was one of the most hawkish voices in the region, pushing for maximum pressure on Pyongyang, especially after North Korea fired two missiles over the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
