Kim Yo-jong tells Japan she has no intention of holding a summit, rejects abductions issue

[Financial News] Kim Yo-jong, a senior official of the Workers' Party of Korea in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has effectively ruled out the possibility of a summit with Japan. She made it clear that as long as Tokyo sets the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens as a precondition, Pyongyang will not enter into talks.
In a statement released on the 23rd through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim said, “A summit between the DPRK and Japan is not something that can be realized just because Japan wants it.” She went on, “If the meeting is premised on resolving an agenda unilaterally set by Japan, we have no intention of sitting down with them.”
Earlier, at the U.S.-Japan summit held on the 19th (local time) in Washington, D.C., Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi mentioned resolving the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens and expressed her intention to pursue a summit with Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea. Then–United States of America (US) President Donald Trump also indicated he would cooperate with such efforts.
Kim, however, reiterated that the abductions issue is “a one-sided agenda that we do not even acknowledge,” reaffirming the DPRK’s existing position. She added, “For the leaders of the two countries to meet, Japan must first make up its mind to break with its anachronistic practices,” stressing that “there is nothing to discuss face to face with a counterpart clinging to unattainable demands.”
She further remarked that, although it was her “personal view,” she did “not wish to see the Japanese prime minister come to Pyongyang.”
425_sama@fnnews.com Choi Seung-han Reporter