TOKYO, March 29. /TASS/. The DPRK will respond sharply to any interference with its sovereignty by Japan, which, despite Pyongyang's official refusal to enter into a dialogue has been trying to establish contact, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui has said.
"The dialogue between the DPRK and Japan is not our concern, and we will not permit any attempts on the part of Japan to establish contact with us. We will always respond sharply to Japan's interference in matters concerning our sovereignty," the Korean Central News Agency quotes Choe as saying.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, said on March 26 that Pyongyang refused to conduct any talks with Tokyo and was not interested in holding a meeting between Kim Jong Un and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida due to Tokyo's stance on the issue of abducted Japanese citizens. Kim Yo Jong noted that Japan was trying to question the DPRK's sovereignty by using phrases such as "nuclear and missile issues." Also, Tokyo disagrees with Pyongyang's position that the issue of abducted Japanese citizens was settled, Kim Jong Un's sister concluded.
Kishida, just like his predecessors, has repeatedly stated that he is ready to personally meet Kim Jong Un without preconditions to resolve the issue of adbuctees.
Abductions of Japanese citizens by the DPRK special services is one of the most sensitive ones in relations between the two states, which do not maintain formal diplomatic ties. In 2002, Pyongyang for the first time recognized the abduction of 13 Japanese citizens and allowed 5 of them to return home. The rest were declared dead and their remains were sent to Japanese relatives. The remains’ authenticity could not be confirmed, though. In May 2014, the governments of Japan and North Korea agreed to conduct a new investigation into the abduction of Japanese citizens, but the commission in charge of the abductions was subsequently dissolved at Pyongyang's initiative.