Japan is determined to settle the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea through direct talks with its leader Kim Jong Un, after U. S. President Donald Trump raised the issue during his historic summit with Kim on Tuesday. "I’m determined that Japan will have to directly
Japan is determined to settle the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea through direct talks with its leader Kim Jong Un, after U. S. President Donald Trump raised the issue during his historic summit with Kim on Tuesday.
« I’m determined that Japan will have to directly face North Korea and resolve (the abduction issue) bilaterally, » Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters later in the day, after speaking by phone with Trump.
Trump « told me that he accurately conveyed my thoughts about the issue to Mr Kim, » Abe said, but declined to elaborate.
Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference, « We have not changed our determination to settle (the abduction issue) by directly negotiating with North Korea. »
Tokyo has long sought the return of Japanese kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. After his talks with Trump last Thursday in Washington, Abe expressed his willingness to meet with Kim to seek an early resolution.
