Kim Yo-jong makes U-turn, says nay to all North Korean contact with Japan

North Korea

Published: 26 Mar. 2024, 22:50 Updated: 27 Mar. 2024, 15:51

Kim Yo-jong makes U-turn, says nay to all North Korean contact with Japan

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaks in a meeting in August 2022. [YONHAP]

Pyongyang rejects any future contact or talks with Tokyo, the powerful younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Tuesday, a day after floating the possibility of a bilateral summit.

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, said in an English-language statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), that North Korea "has clearly understood once again the attitude of Japan" and "will pay no attention to and reject any contact and negotiations with the Japanese side."

On Monday, she said in a statement that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had earlier expressed a willingness to hold a summit with her brother "as soon as possible."

Speaking to the Japanese parliament later Monday, Kishida said that he was not aware of Kim Yo-jong's remarks, but noted that top-level meetings are important for resolving outstanding issues such as the abduction problem.

Tokyo has long called for a resolution to the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s. In 2002, North Korea admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens and five were allowed to return home.

Kim claimed on Tuesday that it was the "Japanese side that knocked at the door first requesting" a bilateral summit "without preconditions," adding that Pyongyang had "only clarified its stand that it would welcome Japan if it is ready to make a new start, not being obsessed by the past."

She added that a Kim-Kishida summit "is not a matter of concern to the DPRK," referring to the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

She accused Kishida of using the summit to suit his own "political purpose" and salvage his low approval ratings in Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a parliamentary session of House of Councilors in Tokyo on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

Last month, Kim said North Korea was open to improving ties with Japan, adding that there may come a day where Kishida visits Pyongyang, after the Japanese prime minister in a speech in the Diet that he felt a strong need to change the current relations between the two countries.

The apparent olive branch to Japan was seen by some analysts as a means to negotiations with the United States, amid the North's dire economic situation and increasing diplomatic isolation amid stringent sanctions against its nuclear weapons programs. Others saw the gesture as an attempt to drive a wedge into the strengthened trilateral security cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, further cemented through the Camp David summit in August last year.

In her Tuesday statement, Kim accused the Japanese prime minister of using the two countries' relations for political gain amid his low approval ratings.

She claimed that Japan tried to draw in the North's nuclear and missile issue and "interfere" with its exercise of sovereignty and self-defense.

Kim added, "Japan has no courage to change history, promote regional peace and stability and take the first step for the fresh DPRK-Japan relations."

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday that he will not be commenting on every announcement made by Pyongyang, when asked about Kim's remarks the previous day.

He reiterated that it was his government's policy to try to resolve the abductee issue. Japanese media outlets quoted Hayashi as saying that Tokyo would continue to make efforts "to ensure that all kidnapping victims can return home as soon as possible."

However, he said he would refrain from revealing further details "because there are concerns that it may affect future negotiations."

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks in a meeting with civic groups and family members of people abducted and detained by North Korea and related civic groups at the government complex in central Seoul Wednesday. [NEWS1]

In Seoul, the Unification Ministry on Wednesday "denounced" North Korea's abduction and detention of South Korean nationals, calling it "an illegal and inhumane act."

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said in a meeting with family members of victims and related civic groups at the government complex in central Seoul that there were over 60,000 South Korean prisoners of war who were captured by the North during the 1950-53 Korean War and failed to return home.

He added that of an estimated 3,835 South Koreans kidnapped by North Korea after the Korean War, 516 have yet to return, citing government data.

Kim noted that there are six South Koreans currently detained in North Korea, including three missionaries who were "illegally arrested and detained since 2013."

President Yoon Suk Yeol in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday said that all "military prisoners, abductees and detainees must be returned to their families" in South Korea. During the meeting, he wore a forget-me-not pin on his lapel, a symbol of hope for the safe repatriation of South Koreans abducted and detained in North Korea.

He highlighted that the government passed an act 14 years ago to find the truth about the damages from North Korean abduction during the Korean War.

"The government will do its best to ensure that all of these people return to their families," Yoon said.

President Yoon Suk Yeol wears a forget-me-not pin, a symbol of hope for the repatriation of South Koreans abducted and detained in North Korea, as well as prisoners of war, on his lapel during a Cabinet meeting at the Yongsan presidential office in Seoul on Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]