Abe, Moon Seek Further N. Korea Steps toward Denuclearization

May 9, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed Wednesday that their countries will cooperate with the United States in urging North Korea to take further steps toward its complete denuclearization.

During the talks, which lasted nearly two hours, Abe and Moon also affirmed cooperation by their countries to resolve promptly the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals.

The Abe-Moon meeting took place after the two leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held a three-way summit in the Japanese capital in the morning.

Moon, who took office a year ago, became the first South Korean president to travel to Japan since December 2011. His visit followed a South Korea trip by Abe in February, when the prime minister attended the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

The Japanese and South Korean leaders agreed to develop a future-oriented bilateral relationship and fully resume so-called shuttle diplomacy, with each country's leader making reciprocal visits to the other nation.

"The timing is important for easing and removing sanctions against North Korea," Abe told Moon.

"We should not reward North Korea only for closing nuclear test facilities in Punggye-ri and stopping intercontinental ballistic missile launches," Abe stressed. Moon agreed.

According to the South Korean government, Abe told Moon that Japan wants to take part in discussions on security in Northeast Asia.

Referring to expected talks on an envisaged declaration to end the 1950-1953 Korean War and a peace treaty, Moon said that an agreement on these issues should be concluded by the parties to the war. Moon suggested that his country will discuss them with North Korea plus the United States and China.

Still, the South Korean leader said Japan must play a role in building peace in Northeast Asia in a broad sense.

Moon also told Abe that economic assistance to North Korea would require not only inter-Korean dialogue but also dialogue between Japan and North Korea as well as the normalization of their relations.

Abe sought cooperation to resolve the abduction issue as soon as possible. Moon replied that he will make every effort to fully resolve the issue.

Abe demanded that South Korea steadily implement its agreement with Japan in December 2015 to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the issue of Korean comfort women, who were forced to serve Japanese soldiers sexually before and during World War II.

The prime minister also urged the South Korean side to prevent a statue symbolizing Korean victims of forced labor by Japan during World War II from being set up in front of the Japanese consulate-general in Busan, as planned by a South Korean labor group.. Jiji Press