Moon to raise Japanese abductee issue in North Korea summit

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of – South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to raise the issue of Japanese citizens who were abducted decades ago by North Korea in his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week.

Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a telephone conversation that resolving the issue would contribute to peace in Northeast Asia, Moon spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Tuesday.

Moon is to meet Kim on Friday at the border village of Panmunjom in a rare summit between the Koreas. The rivals remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Seoul says the summit will focus on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. Seoul has also brokered a meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump which is expected in May or June.

Japan says North Korea abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train its agents in Japanese language and culture to spy on South Korea.

North Korea has acknowledged abducting 13 Japanese in the 1970s. It allowed five of them to visit Japan in 2002 and they stayed. North Korea says eight others have died, but their families say the North’s statement cannot be trusted.

Trump said he promised Abe during a meeting in Washington last week that he would work hard for the return of Japanese abducted by North Korea.

During their telephone conversation, Abe asked Moon whether there was any likelihood of declaring an official end to the Korea War in his talks with Kim, according to Moon’s spokesman. Moon replied that ending the war would require the consent of at least three parties — the Koreas and the United States — and that he would work closely with Washington and Tokyo to create favourable conditions for such an agreement, the spokesman said.

While Trump has given his “blessing” for the Koreas to discuss an end to the war, there can be no real solution without the involvement of Washington and other parties that fought in the war because South Korea wasn’t a direct signatory to the armistice that stopped the fighting.

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This story has been corrected to show that comments were on Tuesday, not Wednesday.