Tokyo, 28 June, /AJMEDIA/
Japan’s top government spokesman on Thursday called for international cooperation to secure the return of victims of North Korea’s past abductions during an online symposium of the United Nations.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi also pledged that Japan will keep making efforts to realize a summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, aiming to resolve the long-standing abduction issue.
“We will continue to call for North Korea to make decisions together with us from a broader perspective, overcoming every obstacle, for the peace and stability of the region and international community,” Hayashi said in his speech at the symposium.
Hayashi, who doubles as minister in charge of the abduction issue with North Korea, added, “We must waste no time and boldly change the current situation.”
His remarks came months after North Korea rejected any contact or negotiations with Japan, claiming that the abduction issue has been already settled. Tokyo has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
Earlier this month, however, a South Korean newspaper reported Japan and North Korea held a secret meeting in Mongolia in mid-May, citing multiple sources, while Hayashi has declined to comment on the news due to “the nature of the matter.”
On Thursday, relatives of the abducted Japanese nationals, including those of iconic abductee Megumi Yokota, participated in the event. Yokota was kidnapped on her way home from school in 1977 at age 13.
Among 17 nationals Japan officially lists as having been abducted by North Korea, five have been returned. Tokyo also suspects Pyongyang’s involvement in many other disappearances.
The symposium, which Japan cohosted with the United States, South Korea, Australia and the European Union, has been held online since 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event had previously taken place at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
© KYODO
