Kim Jong Un Did Not Repeat Claim about Abductions: Japanese Official

June 14, 2018

Tokyo- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not repeat his country's claim that the issue of its abductions of Japanese citizens has been resolved during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, an aide to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday.

Kim did not make the claim when Trump brought up the abduction issue, Koichi Hagiuda, executive acting secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters.

Taking this as a positive sign, the Japanese government is considering exploring the possibility of a bilateral summit with North Korea to resolve the abduction issue, sources familiar with the matter said.

In a meeting with Hagiuda on Wednesday, Abe said he is determined to bring all Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea back to Japan to meet their families, according to the LDP executive.

Abe plans to convey his determination directly to the families of the abduction victims in a meeting on Thursday, sources familiar with the matter said.

Trump briefed Abe by telephone Tuesday night about the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit.

The Japanese government will send a senior Foreign Ministry official to an international meeting, set for Thursday and Friday in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, to approach a North Korean participant.

Some Japanese officials are considering a plan to seek a dialogue between Abe and Kim on the sidelines of an economic forum in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok in September, depending on North Korea's response.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to hold talks with his U.S. and South Korean counterparts in Seoul on Thursday to discuss the abduction and other North Korean issues.

There has been little progress on the abduction issue since five victims returned to Japan in 2002, though Tokyo has urged Pyongyang to return all victims to Japan immediately.

Pyongyang claims that eight of the 12 abduction victims recognized by the Japanese government have died and the four others have not entered North Korea.

North Korea in 2014 agreed to reopen an investigation into the whereabouts of Japanese abductees, but unilaterally called off the probe two years later. Jiji Press