Japan and North Korea secretly negotiate on the issue of kidnapped hostages

On June 13, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported that Japan and North Korea held a secret meeting in Mongolia in mid-May, as Tokyo attempted to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted in the past.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at an event to meet families whose relatives were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Photo: Kyodo

The meeting took place near the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. Japan and North Korea were also scheduled to hold another meeting last week in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, but it is unclear whether the meeting will take place as planned, JoongAng Ilbo reported.

On May 11, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced to step up efforts to promote a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to bring back the abductees, while pledging to promote high-level bilateral talks and calling for support from the US and the international community.

Japan and North Korea currently have no formal diplomatic relations. The two countries have long disagreed on the issue of citizens abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. In its official list, Japan announced 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korea, of which five were repatriated in 2002. Japan has asked North Korea to return the remaining 12. However, Pyongyang claims that of these, eight have died and four have never been to North Korea.

SOUTH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nhat-ban-va-trieu-tien-bi-mat-dam-phan-ve-van-de-con-tin-bi-bat-coc-post744466.html