Kim Yo Jong Denies Possibility of N. Korea-Japan Summit

Seoul, March 23 (Jiji Press)–Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, on Monday ruled out the possibility of the country holding a summit with Japan, the Korean Central News Agency reported. At her meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi voiced her willingness to hold summit talks with the North Korean leader. But Kim Yo Jong, head of the general affairs department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a statement that she does not want to see the Japanese prime minister come to Pyongyang while noting that this is just her personal position, according to the KCNA. She is the first high-ranking North Korean official to formally express the country’s position on a potential bilateral summit since Takaichi took office in October last year. The North Korean leadership will have no intention to meet or sit face to face with Takaichi if she seeks to resolve a unilateral matter that Pyongyang does not acknowledge, Kim Yo Jong said in the statement, apparently mentioning the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago. In order for the two countries to hold a bilateral summit, Japan should first be determined to break with its anachronistic practice and habit, she said, demanding that Tokyo accept Pyongyang’s stance that the abduction issue has already been resolved. Currently, Japan is moving in the opposite direction, she added. By noting that she was expressing her personal view, not speaking on behalf of her brother, however, Kim Yo Jong may have left room for dialogue, depending on Japan’s response, analysts said. At a gathering last November seeking the return home of abductees, Takaichi said, “We have already asked North Korea to hold a bilateral summit (with Japan).” At the White House meeting with Trump on Thursday, she said that “I strongly hope to meet with” Kim Jong Un in person. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]