Japanese, North Korean foreign ministers hold first talks in three years in New York
Tokyo would not say what was discussed at the 20-minute meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly
The foreign ministers of Japan and North Korea on Wednesday held talks for the first time in three years, amid expectations Pyongyang may start taking concrete steps towards denuclearisation and engage in more dialogue.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters that he sat down with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho for about 20 minutes in the UN headquarters, without giving further details.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un apparently told South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week in Pyongyang that he was prepared to engage in direct talks with Japan at an “appropriate time”.
“I have been debriefed that it was a substantial sit-down style meeting,” Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a press conference in Tokyo.
But Suga also said he would not say what the two foreign ministers discussed.
Kono is believed to have conveyed Japan’s stance that economic help will come after North Korea takes action to dismantle its missile and nuclear programmes and tackles the issue of its past abductions of Japanese citizens, and also following normalisation of bilateral relations.