Abe to visit US April 17-20

April 2, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that he will visit the southern US state of Florida on April 17-20.

Abe will hold a summit with US President Donald Trump for two days, the prime minister told a meeting between the government and the ruling camp.

Abe and Trump are seen discussing ways to denuclearize North Korea ahead of a summit between the US president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that may be held by the end of May.

The prime minister is also expected to ask for US cooperation to resolve the issue of North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals decades ago.

Furthermore, he is seen conveying concerns over steel and aluminum import tariffs the United States invoked last month and requesting that Japan be exempted.

"I'll directly ask Trump to raise the abduction issue in the US-North Korean summit," Abe said.

"We'll make our best efforts through cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea" for a comprehensive resolution of the abduction, nuclear and missile issues, he stressed.

"Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless," Abe said. "We must maintain the maximum pressure to make (Pyongyang) take specific actions."

Abe also expressed a wish to submit work style reform bills to the Diet, Japan's parliament, this week, aiming to enact the legislation during the current ordinary session through June 20. Jiji Press