'Nothing to solve' on abduction issue, North Korea says after summit proposal by Japan

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) — North Korea on Friday turned down a fresh proposal by Japan for a summit that would presumably address a long-standing issue related to Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang in past decades.

North Korea "has nothing to solve as regards the 'abduction issue' insisted by Japan and, moreover, it has neither the responsibility nor the will to make any effort for it," the country's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said in a statement cited by the Korea Central News Agency.

Her statement came after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday said his government would seek a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"A fruitful relationship between Japan and North Korea is aligned with the interests of both sides," Kishida said at a news conference in Tokyo.

This was Tokyo's second attempt for a summit with Kim.

Pyongyang had on Wednesday rejected any contact or negotiations with Japan.

Dialogue between the two sides "is not a matter of concern to (Pyongyang)," Choe stressed.

North Korea "will not allow any attempt of Japan to contact" Pyongyang, she said, adding that her country "will always respond sternly to Japan's interference in the exercise of our sovereignty."

Kishida had said that Japan will continue efforts to address issues related to North Korea, including the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 2002, North Korea admitted that it had sent agents to abduct 13 Japanese people in the 1970s and 1980s, pressing them into service training its spies in Japanese language and customs in what has since remained a major issue in Japan.

Japan's former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a landmark visit to Pyongyang in 2002 and met Kim's father, Kim Jong-il.

His visit led to the return of five Japanese nationals and a follow-up trip by Koizumi, but the diplomacy soon broke down, following Tokyo's claim that Pyongyang was not coming clean about the abduction victims.