Abe to hold phone talks with Trump on North Korea

February 7, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to hold a telephone conference with U.S. President Donald Trump shortly to coordinate policies on North Korea ahead of a second summit between Washington and Pyongyang, informed sources said Wednesday.

"It may be difficult to hold a (face-to-face Japan-U.S.) summit, but I want to coordinate policies closely over the phone on North Korea's nuclear, missile and abduction issues," Abe told a parliamentary meeting.

Abe's remarks were made after Trump unveiled plans on Tuesday to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28.

Abe plans to tell Trump of the importance of having North Korea present detailed measures to abandon its nuclear and missile development, the sources said.

The Japanese leader also plans to ask the U.S. president to bring up the issue of Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese citizens at the Trump-Kim summit again, the sources said.

Trump raised the abduction issue during his first summit with Kim in Singapore in June last year following requests from Abe during two rounds of trips to the United States.

At the parliamentary meeting, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono also expressed hopes to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss North Korea policies prior to the Trump-Kim summit.

Kono is considering visiting the United States for talks with Pompeo or holding a phone conversation with him, sources familiar with the matter said.

Japan will closely coordinate policies with the United States toward the second U.S.-North Korea summit, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

Tokyo "hopes that last June's U.S.-North Korea agreement, including Pyongyang's commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, will be implemented completely and swiftly," Suga said.

At the time of the first U.S.-North Korea summit, the Japanese government sent Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Shotaro Yachi, head of the secretariat at the National Security Council, to Singapore to collect information.

For the planned second summit, Japan plans to send Kanasugi and other officials, aiming to coordinate policies with U.S. officials, including envoy Stephen Biegun, informed sources said. Jiji Press