Abe Says Not to “Miss Chance” to Solve Abduction Issue

June 19, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday reiterated his determination to resolve the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals through talks with the country's leader Kim Jong Un.

"I have no intention of missing any chance" to resolve the abduction issue, he said at a meeting of the Audit Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament.

It is significant that Kim promised to work for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last Tuesday, Abe said.

Abe was responding to questions in the Diet for the first time since the historic U.S.-North Korea summit.

"A Japan-North Korea summit needs to be held," Abe said, stressing that the bilateral summit, if realized, should contribute to resolving the abduction issue.

Abe also said the Japanese government will not provide economic assistance to North Korea unless the issue is resolved.

"It is true that Kim has leadership skills as he realized his summit with Trump," Abe said.

"I hope to see Japan-North Korea relations make a new start, and want to take a step forward by breaking the shell of mutual distrust" over the abduction issue, he added.

He also said there is no change in his administration's policy of urging North Korea to scrap its short- and intermediate-range missiles, which can reach Japan. Tokyo and Washington are in full agreement on this policy, he said. Jiji Press