UPDATED on March, 25, 2024 at 1:16 p.m. ET
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, said on Monday that Pyongyang has received a summit proposal from Japan. Her comments came a month after she said the hermit state was open to enhancing its ties with Tokyo.
However, Kim said that improving bilateral relations between the two countries will depend on whether Japan can make practical political decisions.
“Recently, Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida conveyed to us through another channel his desire to meet directly with the chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the earliest possible time,” Kim Yo Jong said, cited by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Kim Jong Un is chairman or president of the State Affairs Commission. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the North's official name.
“As I have said before, it is Japan’s actual political determination that is crucial to opening a new avenue for improving bilateral relations,” Kim’s powerful sister said, adding that “mere willingness to engage in head-to-head talks is not enough to resolve the mistrust and misunderstanding between our two countries.”
“If Japan continues to interfere in the exercise of our sovereign rights, as it is doing now, and continues to focus on the abduction issue, which it has no ability to resolve or even understand, the Prime Minister’s initiatives will inevitably be viewed as little more than popularity stunts.”
Kim Yo Jong's remarks came about a month after she said North Korea was open to enhancing its ties with Japan, even suggesting the possibility of inviting the Japanese prime minister to Pyongyang.
At that time, however, Kim Yo Jong stressed that the visit “might come” if Japan “drops its bad habit,” calling the abduction issue “already settled.”
Abduction obstacle
The issue of abductions remains a significant obstacle to diplomatic normalization between North Korea and Japan.
Tokyo claims it has confirmed the abductions of 17 Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s for language education for North Korean spies, and 12 are still in the North.
Pyongyang contends that of the 12, eight have already died, and four never entered North Korea, asserting that there is no issue to be resolved.
In February, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said claims that the abduction issue has already been resolved were "completely unacceptable."
He noted that “Japan has not changed its policy of comprehensively resolving issues such as abduction and nuclear and missile programs on the basis of the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration.”
The declaration was signed in 2002 after former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang.
It contained four sections: promoting talks on normalization of diplomatic relations, compensation based on reflection on past history, preventing the recurrence of “regrettable issues,” such as abductions, and establishing cooperation to resolve nuclear and missile issues.
Summit unlikely
During a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Kishida said that a summit would be important to resolve many pending issues between the two countries, including the abductee issue.
A South Korean foreign ministry official said that Seoul is "closely communicating with Japan" regarding the North's purported proposal, stressing that Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are in "close coordination" to bring Pyongyang back to the path toward denuclearization.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told RFA that Washington has been "very clear" about the importance of diplomacy with North Korea, and suggested contacting the Japanese government for inquiries about a potential summit between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
The abductee issue remains an important topic to Japanese citizens, and the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was more devoted to the issue Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute said. But now the responsibility is Kishida's.
"While some conjecture that Kishida is striving for a North Korean summit to improve his sagging popularity polls, it seems unlikely that a meeting would have much of a positive effect nor is a breakthrough likely," said Klingner. "While resumption of any dialogue with Pyongyang would be beneficial to discuss ways to reduce ongoing tensions, Kishida runs the risk of looking too desperate for a meeting."
Japanese intelligence officials have proposed dialogue with North Korea several times in the past, and North Korea does not expect that a summit will come under the Kishida administration because it has a low approval rating, Yoshihiro Makino of Hiroshima University told RFA on Monday.
The efforts by Pyongyang to engage in dialogue with Tokyo are an attempt to undermine cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, he said, adding that until the abductee issue can be resolved to Japan's satisfaction, a summit is unlikely.
Edited by Mike Firn.
Update adds reactions from diplomats and experts.