Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Sunday sought cooperation from Mongolia over efforts to settle the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea, as Ulaanbaatar maintains friendly ties with Pyongyang.

During talks between Kono and his Mongolian counterpart, Damdin Tsogtbaatar, in the Mongolian capital, the two agreed on the importance of fully implementing U.N. sanctions against North Korea to push the country toward denuclearization, according to Japanese officials.

Kono said the two countries are strategic partners sharing universal values and that he hopes to further develop their relationship. Tsogtbaatar agreed to deepen ties.

Tokyo, which has no diplomatic ties with North Korea, has often looked to Mongolia to act as a mediator. It is the first time in about nine years that a Japanese foreign minister has visited the country.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently stepped up efforts to reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying he is willing to hold a meeting “without preconditions” — a shift from his previous position that any summit should yield progress on the abduction issue.

North Korea has so far reacted coldly, with its state-run media quoting a spokesperson for the country’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee earlier in the month as calling the offer “brazen.”

Japan officially lists 17 people as victims of abduction, five of whom were repatriated in 2002, and suspects the North’s involvement in many other disappearances.

Kono will return to Japan on Monday. </s> A Japanese man has recently been taken into custody in North Korea, government officials said Saturday as Tokyo tried to obtain information on the case.

According to informed sources, the man, in his 30s, was visiting the communist regime on a package tour organized by a foreign tourist agency. He was in Nampo, a port town in the western part of the country, the source said.

Japanese officials are concerned his detention could affect negotiations on the long-running abduction issue, which concerns Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1970s and 80s. Five were returned several years ago after talks held under the administration of Junichiro Koizumi.

“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” an official said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the wake of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, but there are no signs of progress yet.

A Foreign Ministry official declined to provide specifics on the case, such as the purpose of the man’s visit, saying only that the ministry is in the process of confirming the details.

Tokyo has reportedly called on Pyongyang to release the man through diplomatic channels, including the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, the sources said. The ministry has asked Japanese to refrain from traveling to North Korea as part of its economic sanctions on the country.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho did not respond to questions on the matter when he arrived at Beijing international airport Saturday following a trip to Singapore and Iran.

In 1999 a Japanese newspaper reporter working in North Korea was taken into custody on spy charges and detained for about two years.

Sources familiar with bilateral relations said last month that North Korea has established a team to negotiate with Japan, which itself is seeking direct talks to settle various issues. The team was apparently established sometime between April and the historic U.S.-North Korea summit on June 12, reflecting a move by Pyongyang to explore dialogue with Tokyo amid the rapidly changing geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea judged earlier this year that mending ties with Japan would become a future task if it moves to improve ties with the United States, South Korea and China, the sources said.

At a plenary meeting in April of the central committee of North Korea’s ruling party, the policy of pursuing active dialogue with surrounding countries was adopted, they added.

Tokyo has long sought answers about the abduction issue. Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects the North’s involvement in many more disappearances.

But no substantial progress has been made despite exchanges via the team, the sources said, and prospects for making progress are clouded by the murky outlook of the denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea. </s> 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> Billy is the editor of Verdict. You can reach him at billy.bambrough@verdict.co.uk

As the world is still reeling from the shock announcement that US President Donald Trump could soon meet with Kim Jong-un, Japan’s top government spokesman has revealed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might soon sit down with the North Korean leader.

Abe wants to discuss the matter of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang’s agents decades ago with Kim.

Kim is also expected to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April.

Earlier this week, South Korean envoy Suh Hoon visited Tokyo to brief Japan’s leadership on the fast-moving diplomatic process.

It is important to harmonise policies closely among Japan, the United States and South Korea ahead of the North-South summit and the US-North Korea summit. 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.

It’s thought more than a dozen Japanese nationals were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. They were then put to work teaching North Korean special forces about the Japanese language and culture to enable them to blend in during missions to Japan.

Read more: Here are all the places where Trump might meet Kim

In 2002 the then Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, meet with Kim Jong-il — the father of the current North Korea ruler — in Pyongyang where he acknowledged the country had targeted Japanese citizens and vowed that the abductions had ended.

Abe has since made the abductees issue a keystone of his political career and has previously used a telephone call with Trump to ask the US for help to resolve the issue.

Japan has also called on US support after North Korean missiles flew over its territory in 2017, sparking outrage and lifting tensions to fever pitch.

Meanwhile, Abe is facing 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. </s> Japan is considering seeking a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as Tokyo struggles to stay relevant in fast-moving diplomacy with Pyongyang.

Officials in Tokyo would not confirm Wednesday the reports of a potential shift in Japan’s policy, but government spokesman Yoshihide Suga also declined to explicitly deny a summit was being explored.

“What is important is that the three countries, Japan, the US and South Korea, continue to closely coordinate policies,” he said at a regular briefing.

“We wish to make progress on our efforts to reach a comprehensive resolution of the nuclear, missile, and abduction (of Japanese citizens) … and as part of that, we will review our way forward from the perspective of the most effective approach.”

There has been no public suggestion from any side of an Abe-Kim summit.

But Japan’s Kyodo and Jiji Press agencies both reported the possibility was being studied after Tokyo found itself on the back foot with the surprise announcement last week that US President Donald Trump would meet with Kim later this year.

Japan has long maintained a hardline position on negotiations with Pyongyang, warning against “talks for the sake of talks”, and in the early days of Trump’s administration there appeared to be little daylight between Tokyo and Washington on the issue.

But the prospect of a Trump-Kim summit, as well as talks between North and South Korea, appears to have pushed Tokyo to reassess its position, analysts said.

Japan fears the current diplomatic track could leave unaddressed the North’s short-range missile capabilities, as well as the emotive issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang during the cold war.

“Japan has to hold a summit as soon as possible after the North-South summit and the US-North summit … to avoid being left out both in terms of security concerns and on the abduction issue,” Masao Okonogi, a North Korea specialist affiliated with Tokyo’s Keio University, said.

Speaking before the latest reports, Korea expert Kan Kimura, a professor at Kobe University, said that Japan had been “left behind” by the recent diplomatic activity.

“Things are moving forward without Japan,” he said.

The Japanese are “showing clear signs that they are deeply unsettled by this,” added Daniel Sneider, an Asia-Pacific specialist at Stanford University.

“The Japanese fear being isolated because they have basically positioned themselves as the most hardline of hardliners, constantly expressing scepticism about the North Korean openings to dialogue,” he added.

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.

But Abe rose to political prominence on his calls for a tough line on North Korea, and attitudes only hardened after two missiles fired by Pyongyang flew over Japan last year.

The hostility goes both ways, with Pyongyang regularly excoriating Japan, including over its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century.

“Korea is not a weak nation as it used to be in the past when it was trampled under the jackboots of the Japanese imperialists,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary Monday.

The prospect of an Abe-Kim summit also comes at a time of political turmoil for Japan’s premier, who is under fire at home over the discount sale of government land to one of his supporters, a deal that was the apparent subject of a cover-up by the finance ministry. </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 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> Japan hopes a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held Sunday will reinvigorate stalled denuclearization talks and help resolve the issue of Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese citizens.

After speaking by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters he welcomed the meeting, saying it was "a big turning point for U.S.-North Korea talks to resume."

"We hope that it will add momentum to efforts toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Kono said. He and Pompeo agreed to coordinate their countries' approaches to North Korea.

Trump and Kim held talks in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas and agreed to start denuclearization talks within weeks following the breakdown of their February summit.

"The meeting could serve as an opportunity for North Korea to come out of its shell," a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Tokyo is closely monitoring whether the two countries will move forward negotiations on the denuclearization of North Korea and improve their ties, which could help the U.S. government set up a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Kim, as hoped for by the Japanese leader.

Abe has so far failed to deliver on his promise to resolve the long-standing abduction issue. On Sunday, the prime minister described the situation as regrettable.

"I'm convinced that, at the end of the day, I myself need to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Un to resolve it," Abe said during an online debate with the leaders of opposition parties after the U.S.-North Korea meeting.

Abe is aiming to hold face-to-face talks with the North Korean leader to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s, a major sticking point hampering Tokyo's relations with Pyongyang.

Abe had said he would not meet with Kim unless an outcome was guaranteed for the settlement of the abduction issue, but he recently changed his position, saying he would meet the North Korean leader "without conditions" to resolve outstanding bilateral issues. </s> North Korea has detained a Japanese tourist visiting the country, possibly on spying charges, Japanese media reported Saturday, complicating efforts to seek rapprochement between the two countries.

President Trump has said Japan is among the Asian countries he expects to provide economic aid to North Korea should it give up its nuclear weapons. But Japan is also determined to resolve the issue of its citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now, there is another man to worry about.

The Kyodo news agency reported that the man, in his 30s, was detained in the western port town of Nampo while on a group tour organized by a foreign agency.

Broadcaster NTV said the man describes himself as a “video creator” and might have been seized while trying to film a military facility in North Korea’s northwestern region.

TBS Television said he had visited North Korea several times in the past, and the Kyodo news agency and the Asahi newspaper said he could face spying allegations, citing official sources.



 In this June 14 photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, bows to Shigeo Iizuka, second from right, leader of a group of families of Japanese abducted by North Korea, and Sakie Yokota, third from right, mother of Megumi Yokota, one of the Japanese abductees, and other members during a meeting at his official residence in Tokyo. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AP)

“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” a government official told Kyodo.

Japan has found itself somewhat on the sidelines since Trump met North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been hoping to arrange his own summit with Kim.

But the abduction issue is a sensitive one in Japan and one that Abe has championed in the past, putting pressure on him to make progress if there was a summit. No date for him to meet Kim has yet been set.

Japan says at least 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents from beaches and coastal areas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some to teach spies about Japanese language and culture, or simply to obtain their identities.

After decades of denial, North Korea finally admitted in 2002 to having kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens, allowing five to return home and claiming the other eight were dead. It now says the case is closed, something Japan and relatives of the disappeared do not accept.

North Korea has not taken steps to denuclearize, John Bolton says

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Foreign Minister of Japan Tarō Kōno seeks cooperation from Mongolia over efforts to settle the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea, as Mongolia maintains friendly ties with Pyongyang. Japan has no ties with North Korea and pushes for further sanctions.