Xi Jinping tells Japan’s Prime Minister he shares concerns over North Korean kidnappings
- Chinese leader told his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga that he hopes the issue can be resolved, diplomatic sources say
- Tokyo has been seeking the return of 12 citizens abducted in the Seventies and Eighties
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed understanding about the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea during his first talks with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last month, diplomatic sources said on Saturday,
As tensions between China and the United States escalate, Xi apparently tried to maintain stable relations with Japan by voicing an interest in the abduction issue, which Suga has pledged to resolve as his highest priority, the sources familiar with bilateral ties said.
It is believed that Xi told North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about the previous prime minister Shinzo Abe’s stance at their meeting in June 2019.
Abe has described the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s as his “life’s work” before he stepped down in September citing ill health.
Five abductees went back to Japan in 2002, and Tokyo has been seeking the return of 12 others whom it has officially recognised as having been abducted by North Korean agents. It also suspects Pyongyang’s involvement in other Japanese citizens’ disappearances.
But North Korea has claimed that the abduction issue has been “already resolved,” saying eight of them have died and the other four never entered the country.
