Japan desperate to remain part of nuke talks
By Kim Rahn
Japan seems to be desperate to get involved in the ongoing nuclear negotiations among the two Koreas and the United States, amid concerns that it has been sidelined in talks ahead of the historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea.
The situation may have resulted because of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hawkish stance toward Pyongyang, as Japan was the only neighboring country that put maximum pressure on the North before having dialogue, even after the reconciliatory atmosphere began.
Abe had a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Monday, and agreed to meet soon before Trump's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, June 12.
Abe may either visit the U.S. before participating in the G7 meeting to be held in Canada, June 8 and 9, or have a summit with Trump in Canada on the sidelines of the gathering.
The two met in Florida, April 17 and 18 as well ahead of the April 27 inter-Korean summit.
It is expected Abe will ask Trump to raise issues related to Japan during his summit with Kim, such as North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens and its short-range missiles that are a security threat to Japan.
The Japanese government is also considering sending its Foreign Minister Taro Kono to Singapore about three to four days before the Washington-Pyongyang summit, according to Kyodo News, Tuesday. It plans to request the Singaporean government to provide summit-related information, as it thinks the host country may collect more information about the summit from both North Korea and the U.S.
Besides Kono, another ranking foreign ministry official, director-general Kenji Kanasugi, will also head to Singapore around the summit date.
Such a move reflects concerns that Japan is being sidelined in the talks surrounding the peninsula ― Kim had two summits with President Moon Jae-in, two with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and will have one with Trump soon. Both Kim and Abe ― in their respective talks with Moon ― said they were willing to talk to each other, but contact between officials of the two nations has not been made yet.
Pyongyang has obviously excluded Tokyo in the negotiations. It did not even invite Japanese journalists to its shutdown event of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site last week, while inviting those from South Korea, the U.S., the U.K., China and Russia.