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Agencies

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the joint statement signed by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore as a first step in the denuclearisation of North Korea.
“We see this as a step in a comprehensive resolution,” Abe said in Tokyo after he spoke by phone with Trump.
Japan wants North Korea to agree to a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. In the joint statement Kim committed North Korea “to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
Abe added that he “would like to thank the president (Trump) for raising the abduction issue,” referring to Japan’s demand that Pyongyang release any remaining Japanese people it abducted to train its spies.
“I’m determined that Japan will have to directly face North Korea and resolve (the abduction issue) bilaterally.”


Tokyo has long sought to return its nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.
“I brought it up absolutely and they are going to be working on that,” Trump said at a news conference following his historic summit with Kim, when asked whether the abduction issue came up during their meeting.
Read the full Trump-Kim joint statement: US, North Korea agree to work towards ‘complete denuclearisation’
He added: “We didn’t put it down in the document but it will be worked out,” referring to the joint statement signed by the leaders and released after their meeting.
The statement did not touch on human rights in North Korea, including the abductions of Japanese citizens.

Abe has made resolving the abductions a top priority of his administration.
Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects North Korea was involved in many more disappearances.
Five of the 17 were repatriated in 2002, with Pyongyang maintaining that eight had died and four others never entered the country.
Japan and North Korea agreed in 2014 that Pyongyang would reinvestigate the fate of all of the abductees.
But the North later disbanded the investigation panel and effectively abandoned the bilateral accord.

The decades-old issue remains a stumbling block for Japan and North Korea to normalise diplomatic ties.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono earlier said the abduction issue was something that Japan and North Korea will eventually have to deal with by themselves.
Kono plans to visit South Korea from Wednesday for talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is accompanying Trump to Singapore, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
Reuters, Kyodo


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Trump-Kim summit

Japan PM Shinzo Abe thanks Donald Trump for raising North Korea’s abductions with Kim Jong-un

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the joint statement signed by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: Reuters

U. S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. (Kevin Lim/The Straits Times via AP)

US President Donald Trump gestures after a press conference following the historic US-North Korea summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed their historic summit on June 12 as a breakthrough in relations between Cold War foes, but the agreement they produced was short on details about the key issue of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB

Japan to maintain pressure on North Korea over stalled abductions investigation: officials

Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. Photo: AFP

So Tae-ha (left), chairman of North Korea's special investigation committee pictured in Pyongyang in October 2014. Photo: AFP

Kim Jong Un (centre) visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang to pay tribute to pay tribute to his ancestors at New Year. Photo: Xinhua

Japanese PM pushes North Korea to resolve abductions issue

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shakes hands with abduction victim Hitomi Soga (right) on Saturday in Tokyo at a rally to support families of abduction victims by North Korea. Photo: AFP

Japanese and N Korean foreign ministers talk about abductions, missiles

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong had informal talks in Myanmar. Photos: AP, EPA

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong is seen as an aide to leader Kim Jong-un.

News

Asia

Diplomacy

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan will engage with North Korea to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North decades ago
