A top North Korean diplomat has essentially acknowledged that North Korea and Japan made contact in July in Vietnam, but said no substantial progress was m
BEIJING – A top North Korean diplomat has essentially acknowledged that North Korea and Japan made contact in July in Vietnam, but said no substantial progress was made toward summit talks between the two country’s leaders.
The disclosure was made Saturday to Kyodo News by Shingo Kanemaru, the second son of the late Shin Kanemaru, who was a prominent politician and former Liberal Democratic Party vice president who had worked to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries in the 1990s.
Kanemaru, 73, held talks with Song Il Ho, North Korea’s ambassador for negotiations to normalize ties with Japan, during a five-day trip to Pyongyang that ended Saturday.
On the contentious issue of abductions of Japanese nationals, Song reiterated the official line that the issue has been resolved, saying that there are no Japanese abductees still alive in North Korea, according to Kanemaru.
Japan officially lists 17 Japanese citizens as having been abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s but alleges Pyongyang’s involvement in many more disappearances. Five of the 17 were repatriated in 2002.
According to Song, Tokyo must first make a “sincere apology” for Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before any summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un can be held.
