Why is Japan seeking a summit with nuclear-armed North Korea?

U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the North Portico for an official State Dinner at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 10, 2024. REUTERS/Leah Millis

By Sakura Murakami

TOKYO (Reuters) – United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he supported his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida’s attempts to hold face-to-face talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a joint press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

“I have faith in Japan,” Biden told reporters during Kishida’s state visit to Washington this week. “I think seeking a dialogue with him is a good thing.”

Kishida hopes to become the first Japanese leader in 20 years to hold leadership talks with nuclear-armed Pyongyang, but his prospects of doing so remain unclear.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses with soldiers as he inspects a tank unit of the Korean People’s Army, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on March 25, 2024. KCNA via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. SOUTH KOREA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SOUTH KOREA.

WHY IS JAPAN SEEKING A SUMMIT?

While Kishida says he is willing to hold talks without preconditions, the burning issue he wants to resolve is that of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Japanese government has said 17 people were kidnapped by the reclusive state. Five returned to Japan in 2002 following previous summit talks, but 12 still remain unaccounted for.

North Korea has said the issue is settled. It has previously said that the unaccounted Japanese nationals had either died, or that it knew nothing about their whereabouts.

Resolving the abductee issue has broad public support and Japan is being spurred to take action while the elderly family members of the abductees are still alive.

The poster child of the abductees, Megumi Yokota, was just 13 when she was kidnapped while walking home from school in 1977. Her mother continues to lobby for her return despite North Korea saying she committed suicide.

At a meeting with the families last May, Kishida said he would directly oversee high-level discussions with North Korean counterparts to try and realise the summit.

IS NORTH KOREA OPEN TO IT?

North Korea has so far been non-committal on Kishida’s repeated calls for a summit.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, said in February there is no impediment to closer ties with Japan and there may come a day when Kishida visits Pyongyang, state news agency KCNA reported.

Japan said it would not comment on the statement but added North Korea’s position that the abduction issue had been resolved was unacceptable.

A month later, Kim Yo Jong issued another statement saying North Korea had no interest in a summit with Japan and would reject any talks, according to KCNA.

Kim accused Tokyo of “clinging to the unattainable issues,” the KCNA report said.

HAS A SUMMIT HAPPENED BEFORE?

In a historic first, then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi travelled to Pyongyang to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Il in 2002.

Although North Korea denied any involvement in the abductee issue, the 2002 summit proved to be a breakthrough with Kim Jong Il admitting to some of the abductions.

Koizumi and Kim Jong Il met again in Pyongyang in 2004, the last leadership talks between the two countries.

Although Japanese and North Korean officials have had meetings since, ties have soured over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, with the North conducting a number of test launches and Japan labelling the country a threat to regional stability.

COULD IT BACKFIRE?

With North Korea refusing to engage if the abductee issue is on the negotiating table, Kishida risks coming home empty-handed should he visit Pyongyang.

A failure to provide any tangible wins from engaging with a nuclear-armed state that has continued to launch missiles into waters surrounding Japan could hurt Kishida’s already low domestic approval ratings.

Although Kishida has expressed his desire to meet with Kim Jong Un as early as possible, some government officials say privately it could be a politically risky gambit.

(This story has been corrected to clarify that Japanese nationals were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s, not 1960s and 1970s, in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and John Geddie; editing by Miral Fahmy)