TOKYO: A top government source stated on Friday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is open to meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea “without preconditions.”
Kishida willing meet North Korea’s Kim: Despite earlier statements to the contrary, the prime minister reissued the invitation for the North Korean leader to visit Russia this week and meet with President Vladimir Putin.
After US officials warned Moscow was looking for ammunition to use in the Ukraine conflict, those talks raised concerns about a potential arms deal.
According to Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, “We would like to hold high-level discussions under the direct control of the prime minister to achieve a summit meeting as soon as possible.”
At “any time and without preconditions,” Kishida “has been expressing his determination to directly face” Kim, according to Matsuno.
Kim proceeded to Russia’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur, an industrial hub in the far east, after his summit with Putin on Wednesday. On Friday, he allegedly visited a military aviation factory there.
long-term partners Both North Korea and Russia are subject to several international sanctions — Pyongyang for its nuclear testing and Moscow for its involvement in the Ukraine.
However, Yoko Kamikawa, the foreign minister of Japan, told reporters on Thursday that Tokyo was closely monitoring the Russia-North Korea discussions “with concerns, including the possibility that it could lead to violations of the Security Council’s ban on all arms-related material transactions with North Korea”.