On Friday, a top government official said that Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, is willing to meet Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, “without preconditions.”
The Japanese Prime Minister had earlier said he was willing to hold discussions with Kim, but the reiterated invitation arrives after the North Korean leader traveled to Russia to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
That meeting flared concerns of a potential weapon agreement after US officials cautioned Russia was in search of ammunition to operate in the Ukraine conflict.
Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary told reporters at a regular briefing that we would like to hold high-level talks under the direct control of the prime minister to acquire a summit meeting as soon as possible.
Matsuno said that the Japanese PM has been voicing his determination to directly meet” Kim at “any time and without preconditions.”
Following Kim’s summit with Putin on Wednesday, the North Korean leader traveled to Russia’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a far eastern industrial city where he reportedly visited a military aviation factory on Friday.
Longtime supporters Moscow and Pyongyang are both under rafts of global sanctions — Russia for its Ukraine battle and North Korea for its nuclear tests.
Yoko Kamikawa, Japan’s Foreign Minister told reporters on Thursday that Japan was monitoring the Russia-North Korea talks “with concerns, including the potential that it could lead to breaches of the Security Council’s ban on all arms-related material transactions with North Korea”.
