Japanese and US leaders will meet continuously around the North Korea issue

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump will meet before and after the US-North Korea summit. Photo: AP

According to the above sources, the plan is for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump to meet before and after the US-North Korea summit taking place on June 12 in Singapore.

Prime Minister Abe and President Trump are expected to meet for the first time on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada for two days (June 8-9).

After meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, President Trump may stop in Japan on his way back to the United States, to brief Prime Minister Abe on the results of the US-North Korea summit.

One of the sources said Tokyo will coordinate with Washington on the possibility of President Trump's visit to Japan, but said no schedule has been set yet.

On both occasions, in Canada and Japan, the two leaders will reaffirm bilateral cooperation regarding the goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a move that demonstrates the solidarity between the two countries.

Wishing to contribute to the success of the US-North Korea summit, Japan, for its part, will send a liaison team to Singapore to collect information about the meeting.

If President Trump does not visit Japan afterward, the group hopes to be briefed on the US-North Korea summit, sources said.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Prime Minister Abe is expected to ask President Trump to urge the North Korean leader to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s, as this is a priority for Mr. Abe.

According to sources, Mr. Abe also hopes to reaffirm the importance of putting pressure on Pyongyang to force it to abandon its weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, and missiles of all ranges.

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic action since the conclusion of the inter-Korean summit on April 27. At the meeting, Mr. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to pursue the goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula./.