58 Pct of Japanese Expect No Progress on Abduction Issue: Jiji Poll

May 18, 2018

Tokyo- A recent Jiji Press survey found that 58.8 pct of Japanese respondents expect the recent inter-Korean summit and a planned U.S.-North Korea summit not to lead to any progress toward resolving the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang.

The proportion of respondents who expect progress on the abduction issue came in at 28.4 pct, while 12.7 pct said they have no idea.

U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12, following Kim's meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.

Trump has pledged to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would bring up the abduction issue at the planned meeting with Kim. But the survey highlighted Japanese people's low expectations for a solution to the issue.

The survey showed that 38.0 pct of respondents viewed the past dispatch of Japanese Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq as appropriate, after the discovery of their daily reports that noted that combat occurred.

The activities of SDF troops dispatched to Iraq were limited to noncombat areas under law. The survey showed that 40.5 pct regarded the dispatch as inappropriate.

The survey was conducted from May 11 to Monday through interviews with 2,000 people aged 18 and over across Japan. Of them, 63.7 pct gave valid answers. Jiji Press