Japanese and North Korean officials secretly met
(Baonghean.vn) - The Washington Post reported on August 28 that Japan and North Korea held a "secret" meeting last July without notifying the United States.
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| Illustration: Kyodo |
This was a meeting between Mr. Shigeru Kitamura - Director of the Japanese Cabinet Intelligence and Research Agency (CIRO), and Mr. Kim Song Hye - a senior official in charge of unification issues of North Korea.
According to the Washington Post, senior US officials expressed anger that Japan did not inform them about this meeting, while Washington updated Tokyo almost continuously on its exchanges with North Korea.
The newspaper also said that Japanese officials clearly understand that in order to negotiate the return of Japanese citizens kidnapped in North Korea, Tokyo cannot rely entirely on the US's lobbying.
The issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s is one of the major obstacles to the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations.
Japan asked the United States to raise the issue before the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June. Although US President Donald Trump said he raised the issue at the meeting, the joint statement between the two leaders did not mention the abduction of Japanese citizens.
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