Japan is trying to arrange talks between Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump before the US-North Korea summit in Singapore
Japanese Prime Minister Abe hopes to hold talks with Trump on the fringes of the Group of Seven summit in June, and is likely to press for the release of Japanese people kidnapped by North Korea
The Japanese government is making arrangements for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet US President Donald Trump ahead of a landmark US-North Korea summit in Singapore on June 12, government sources said Friday.
As leaders from the Group of Seven industrialised nations are expected to gather in Canada on June 8 and 9, Abe hopes to hold talks with Trump on the fringes of the summit and coordinate efforts toward resolving issues related to Pyongyang, the sources said.
Abe is expected to ask Trump to push North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to address the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, the sources said.
Abe has placed priority on resolving the abduction issue.
Following the return to the United States of three US citizens detained by Pyongyang, Abe said the Trump-Kim summit will lead to progress on the Japanese abduction issue.
“It would be better [for the two leaders] to meet, and they will likely do so,” a Japanese government source said.