TOKYO, March 26. /TASS/. North Korea rejects any talks with Japan, Kim Yo Jong, Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee and sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement.
According to her, Pyongyang is not interested in any meetings between Kim and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida because of Tokyo’s stance on abducted Japanese nationals.
"Japan has absolutely no courage to change history, facilitate regional peace and stability and take a first step toward new relations with North Korea. Statements by Prime Minister Kishida about a top-level meeting which have garnered a lot of attention recently, can be viewed as pursuing his own political goals," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the statement as saying.
"Our government has once again clearly understood Japan’s position and concluded that it will reject any interaction or talks with Japan. We are not interested in a top-level meeting," she noted. According to the official, Japan is trying to "question North Korea’s sovereignty using such wording as 'nuclear and rocket issues.'" Additionally, Tokyo disagrees with Pyongyang that the issue of abducted Japanese nationals has been resolved, she concluded.
On March 25, the KCNA published Kim Yo Jong’s statement saying that Kishida recently expressed a desire to meet with Kim Jong Un as soon as possible. That said, the North Korean leader’s sister stressed that Tokyo must show its intention to actually improve relations before a meeting with Kishida can be considered. The official noted that in order to improve bilateral ties and rectify a "complete lack of understanding and trust," a practical political decision from Tokyo is important.
Kishida, much like his predecessors over recent years, has repeatedly stated that he was ready to meet with the North Korean leader in person, in order to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the DPRK’s intelligence services.
The issue of the Japanese abducted by North Korean intelligence is a sensitive topic in relations between the two countries as they do not maintain official diplomatic ties. In 2002, Pyongyang for the first time admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens and let five of them return home. The rest were declared deceased and their relatives received their remains which could not be authenticated. In May 2014, the governments of the two countries agreed to hold a new investigation into the abductions of Japanese citizens but the commission in charge of this was later dismissed on Pyongyang’s initiative.