North Korea says summit with Japan is off unless Tokyo drops its anachronistic ways
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Monday a summit between her brother and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won’t happen if Japan sticks to “its anachronistic” approach.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement came after Takaichi told reporters last week that she had informed US President Donald Trump during a summit in Washington that she had “a very strong desire” to meet Kim Jong Un.
“But this is not the one that comes true, as wanted or decided by Japan,” Kim Yo Jong said. “In order for the top leaders of the two countries to meet each other, Japan should first be determined to break with its anachronistic practice and habit.”
Kim Yo Jong, who is also a senior official, didn’t explicitly say what Japan’s “anachronistic practice and habit” are. However, in 2024, she said in a statement that North Korea’s acceptance of a reported offer for a meeting by one of Takaichi’s predecessors would depend on Japan tolerating the North’s nuclear weapons program and ignoring its past abductions of Japanese nationals. The meeting eventually didn’t occur. In her latest statement carried by state media on Monday, Kim Yo Jong said, “I don’t want to see the prime minister of Japan coming to Pyongyang.” But she still described her rejection as “just my personal position,” suggesting she was pressuring Japan to make concessions.
