President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in a phone call Monday to meet before Mr. Trump ’s hoped-for summit with North…
President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in a phone call Monday to meet before Mr. Trump ’s hoped-for summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as preparations continued for what the White House called the “expected” denuclearization talks.
The White House said the president and Mr. Abe will confer in person before the potential June 12 summit with North Korea, as they seek to “continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting” between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim .
“The president and prime minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea ’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs,” the White House said in a statement.
Mr. Abe told reporters in Tokyo that Mr. Trump briefed him on plans for the summit in Singapore, but he didn’t share any details. The prime minister, who met last weekend with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he conveyed to Mr. Trump the support of Japan and Russia for the summit with North Korea to proceed.
The Japanese government wants to ensure that any agreement with North Korea addresses Pyongyang’s short-range missiles, which are a threat to Japan. Mr. Trump and Mr. Abe met last month at the president’s private club in Florida to discuss North Korea .
Mr. Abe also has been pushing Mr. Trump to raise with North Korea the unresolved issue of abductions of Japanese citizens over a period of decades. The prime minister met with families of abductees Monday and said he “conveyed their feelings” to Mr. Trump.
“I told him that it’s absolutely necessary to resolve the issue,” Mr. Abe said.
The U. S., North Korea and South Korea worked through the weekend and on Monday to move forward with the denuclearization summit, after Mr. Trump canceled it last Thursday, citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility” toward the U.
