Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reportedly considering holding a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, despite earlier reservations about dialog with Pyongyang.

 Japanese local media cited an unnamed government source as saying on Wednesday that Tokyo was considering seeking a summit between Abe and Kim.

 The development came almost a week after US President Donald Trump announced he had accepted an invitation by Pyongyang to sit down with Kim without any preconditions. One of the South Korean official who had earlier met with Kim and who had delivered the invitation to Trump in Washington also met with Abe in Tokyo.

 Tokyo is said to be considering using a future meeting to discuss the fate of citizens that it alleges were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the local media.

 Abe has previously told Seoul that Japan wanted any demilitarization talks with Pyongyang to address the issue of the alleged abductions.

 “A resolution of the abduction, nuclear, and missile issues is Japan’s core policy,” the prime minister said earlier. “North Korea must match its words with actions.”

 Japan seemed to have early reservations about talks with North Korea. Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Abe said Tokyo would continue “utmost pressure” on Pyongyang to bring about denuclearization.

 This is while China and Russia both welcomed the potential meeting between Trump and Kim. Analysts attributed Tokyo’s cold response to fears that if Pyongyang “sits down with Washington, it will have absolutely no interest whatsoever in sitting down with Japan.—Agencies </s> Japan is considering a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, local media reported, as diplomatic efforts to engage Pyongyang ramp up.

The reports come after the surprise announcement that US President Donald Trump plans his own talks with the North Korean leader, part of fast-paced diplomatic developments following an Olympic detente.

However, there have been no public proposals of talks by either Pyongyang or Tokyo.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported a potential Abe-Kim summit late Tuesday, citing unnamed government sources who said the talks could be part of a new approach by Tokyo to dealing with the North.

Hours later, Jiji Press reported a similar story, saying Tokyo fears being left behind in dealing with the North if talks proceed between the isolated nation and South Korea and Washington without Japan's involvement.

Contacted by AFP, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said she could not confirm any concrete plans for a summit.

But she added "we will be studying our policies from the viewpoint of what is most effective" to resolve the issues of North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes as well as the abduction of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang.

Earlier this week, South Korean envoy Suh Hoon visited Tokyo to brief Japan's leadership on the fast-moving diplomatic process that saw an announcement last week of a historic US-North Korea summit to discuss Pyongyang's denuclearisation.

Suh, the chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, on Tuesday met with Abe but it was unclear if he brought a message from the North Korean leader to propose a summit with Japan.

Media reports and experts say Tokyo fears it may be left out of developments around North Korea, and worries that the issue of abducted Japanese citizens is being sidelined.

But the possibility of an Abe-Kim summit also comes as the Japanese premier faces a growing scandal at home over the sale of government land to one of his supporters, and an apparent cover-up of the deal by the finance ministry.

Abe rose to political prominence on his calls for a tough line on North Korea, particularly over its abductions of Japanese citizens.

Japan, a close US ally in the region, is in the firing line of North Korean missiles and saw two fly over its territory in 2017, sparking outrage and lifting tensions to fever pitch.

The last Japanese prime minister to meet a North Korean leader was Junichiro Koizumi, who met Kim's father Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in 2004. </s> Japan's prime minister warned Thursday that North Korea's offer of denuclearisation talks with the United States could be a ploy to play for time and stressed the need for Pyongyang to take "concrete" steps.

In his first public comments since an apparent diplomatic breakthrough between North and South Korea, Shinzo Abe said that talking for the sake of talking was "meaningless."

"I've repeatedly said that we have to create a situation of putting maximum pressure on North Korea so that the North wants to have talks with us," Abe told MPs.

"However... it is true that the North has in the past earned time to develop nuclear capabilities and missiles" during periods of negotiation, Abe cautioned.

"Talks for the sake of talks are meaningless and we should never loosen sanctions just because North Korea is open to talks," added the hawkish prime minister.

In the latest chapter of a rapid Olympics-driven rapprochement on the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang has said it would consider giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.

However, analysts have warned that any path to a US-North Korea deal over nuclear weapons is fraught with danger and uncertainty.

Japan, a close US ally in the region, is in the direct firing line of North Korean missiles and saw two fly over its territory in 2017, sparking outrage and lifting tensions to fever pitch.

Despite the apparent recent detente, Abe said Japan's position was unchanged: "North Korea has to show concrete actions toward denuclearisation by committing to abandon its nuclear programme via complete, verifiable and irreversible means."

Abe said he was looking forward to a briefing from a South Korean envoy about his talks with the North when he visits Japan next week. </s> Japan's top government spokesman left the door open on Wednesday to a possible summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss the matter of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents decades ago.

TOKYO: Japan's top government spokesman left the door open on Wednesday to a possible summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss the matter of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents decades ago.

Abe, who has made the abductees issue a keystone of his political career, will meet U.S. President Donald Trump next month in Washington ahead of a proposed summit between the U.S. leader and Pyongyang's Kim, which would follow a planned April meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Worries have surfaced in Tokyo that Japan's interests, including the abductees' fate, may be sidelined by recent moves to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

"It is important to harmonise policies closely among Japan, the United States and South Korea ahead of the North-South summit and the U.S-North Korea summit," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference.

"After that, while liaising closing among the three countries, we will address how to comprehensively resolve the nuclear, missile and abduction issues. Amid that, we want to consider what would be most effective and address the issues from that perspective," Suga added.

On Tuesday, a government source said the administration was considering seeking an Abe-Kim meeting. He declined to be identified because he's not authorised to speak to media.

Abe, 63, has said he would not rest until all 13 of the people North Korea admitted to kidnapping have returned and divulges information about the others that Japan suspects were taken to train as North Korean spies.

But progress has largely stalled since 2002, when five of the 13 returned home. Pyongyang said the other eight were dead.

A ruling coalition lawmaker said that it was too early to plan for two-way talks with Pyongyang on the kidnappings.

"The order is a North-South summit, followed by a U.S.-North Korea summit. We have to see how they go first,” said the lawmaker, who is well-versed in diplomatic affairs.

Speculation about a Abe-Kim summit emerges periodically, especially when his ratings are soggy.

Then-premier Junichiro Koizumi, got a popularity boost after his 2002 visit to Pyongyang and in 2004 when he brought back five children of abductees.

Abe is facing perhaps the worst crisis since taking office as doubts swirl over a suspected cronyism scandal centred on the discounted sale of state-owned land to a school with ties to his wife. He has denied wrongdoing either by himself or his spouse. </s> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he confirmed in telephone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump that the international community needed to continue to put maximum pressure on North Korea. Abe also told reporters he hoped to visit the United States as early as next month to meet Trump to discuss North Korea, among other issues. “We welcome the change in North Korea’s stance”, Abe said, indicating Pyongyang was ready to start discussions on the premise of denuclearisation. </s> Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned Thursday that North Korea’s offer of denuclearization talks with the United States could be a ploy to play for time, and stressed the need for Pyongyang to take “concrete” steps.

In his first public comments since an apparent diplomatic breakthrough between North and South Korea, Abe said that talking for the sake of talking was “meaningless.”

“I’ve repeatedly said that we have to create a situation of putting maximum pressure on North Korea so that the North wants to have talks with us,” Abe told members of the Diet.

“However … it is true that the North has in the past earned time to develop nuclear capabilities and missiles” during periods of negotiation, Abe cautioned.

“Talks for the sake of talks are meaningless and we should never loosen sanctions just because North Korea is open to talks,” he added.

In the latest chapter of a rapid, Olympics-driven rapprochement on the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang has said it would consider giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.

However, analysts have warned that any path to a U.S.-North Korea deal over nuclear weapons is fraught with danger and uncertainty.

Japan, a close U.S. ally in the region, is in the direct firing line of North Korean missiles and saw two fly over its territory in 2017, sparking outrage and lifting tensions to fever pitch.

Despite the apparent recent detente, Abe said Japan’s position was unchanged: “North Korea has to show concrete actions toward denuclearization by committing to abandon its nuclear program via complete, verifiable and irreversible means.”

Abe said he was looking forward to a briefing from a South Korean envoy about his talks with the North when the envoy visits Japan next week. </s> TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he confirmed in telephone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump that the international community needed to continue to put maximum pressure on North Korea.

Abe also told reporters he hoped to visit the United States as early as next month to meet Trump to discuss North Korea, among other issues.

“We welcome the change in North Korea’s stance”, Abe said, indicating Pyongyang was ready to start discussions on the premise of denuclearisation. </s> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has welcomed the third summit of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and expressed hope for continuation of such a dialogue

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2019) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has welcomed the third summit of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and expressed hope for continuation of such a dialogue.

"Japan supports the US-North Korean process. I hope that the current negotiations at the highest level will continue," Abe said as quoted by Kyodo news Agency on Monday.

On Saturday, Trump met with Kim in the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas and held an hour-long meeting in private inside the Freedom House on the South Korean side of the zone.

Trump even briefly stepped over the demarcation line into North Korean soil, becoming the first US president to do so.

Following the meeting, Abe reiterated his intention to have talks with Kim over North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, a pressing issue in relation between Tokyo and Pyongyang.

Kim and Trump first met in Singapore in June 2018, when the two leaders expressed commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The second round of talks, held in February in Vietnam, however, ended abruptly without any agreement. </s> Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 18, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday he welcomed North Korea’s statement that it was suspending all nuclear and missile tests as “forward motion” but that this must lead to verifiable denuclearisation.

“This announcement is forward motion that I’d like to welcome,” Abe told reporters.

“But what’s important is that this leads to complete, verifiable denuclearisation. I want to emphasize this.”

Japan has advocated a policy of maximum pressure on North Korea to get the reclusive state to abandon its weapons program.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe says inter-Korea talks could be a "meaningless" ploy by North Korea.