Moon tells Abe of plan to cover abduction issue at summit with Kim

April 25, 2018

Tokyo- South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday that he plans to take up the issue of Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago at his upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

During 40-minute phone talks with Moon, Abe suggested Tokyo's willingness to hold dialogue with Pyongyang.

Abe and Moon agreed that it is necessary to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea toward its denuclearization.

Explaining what he discussed with US President Donald Trump during their two-day summit in Florida last week, Abe asked Moon to take up the abduction issue at the summit between the two Koreas on Friday.

In response, Moon said that he will convey Abe's position to the North Korean side and tell Kim that resolving the abduction issue will contribute to building peace in Northeast Asia.

According to South Korean government sources, Moon asked Abe about the possibility of Japan and North Korea holding talks.

Abe replied that Japan would likely be able to hold dialogue with North Korea if the inter-Korean summit and a possible US-North Korea summit, which may take place by early June, produce good results, the sources said.

The prime minister also said that Japan and North Korea may be able to settle the past and normalize their relations based on the 2002 Pyongyang Declaration if the North's nuclear and missile development, and the abduction issue are resolved, according to the sources.

The declaration was signed at a historic bilateral summit held between then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, in the North Korean capital in September 2002. In the following month, five Japanese abduction victims returned home from North Korea.

During the phone talks, Abe and Moon agreed to work on arranging their meeting on the sidelines of a possible Japan-China-South Korea summit in Japan next month.

The two leaders also confirmed close coordination between Japan and South Korea and among the two countries plus the United States ahead of the inter-Korean summit and the expected Trump-Kim meeting. Jiji Press