MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Tokyo hopes the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place and contribute to efforts aimed at resolving Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile issue, Japanese Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki told TASS.
"Japan welcomes the historic US-North Korea summit and the United States’ efforts in this regard. We do hope very much that this meeting will take place, facilitate real progress on the nuclear and missile program and the crucial problem of the abduction of Japanese citizens and will help resolve those issues," he stressed.
"Japan will maintain the policy we earlier agreed with Washington and work closely with the US, South Korea, the global community, including Russia and China, to push for North Korea’s specific actions to solve the problems. That’s our country’s stance, which has remained unchanged," he noted.
According to Kozuki, Tokyo expects Pyongyang to fully abandon weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges.
"It is impossible to improve relations and build economic cooperation [with North Korea] unless comprehensive solutions to all issues are found, including the abduction issue and the missile and nuclear issue," he said. "We very much hope that North Korea will comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions and abandon all weapons of mass destruction, including biological and chemical ones, as well as missiles of all ranges," the ambassador added.
Kozuki added that Japan "has long been pursuing a consistent policy aimed at finding comprehensive solutions to all unresolved issues, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the issue of abducted Japanese citizens and the missile and nuclear issue, as well as at settling the unfortunate past and improving diplomatic relations with North Korea based on the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration."
The first ever US-North Korea summit is expected to be held in Singapore on June 12. The two leaders will discuss the prospects for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On Thursday, Trump said all preparations for the summit were over. He also did not rule out the treaty to formally end of the 1950-1953 Korean war would be signed after the meeting.