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| U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe react during delivering a speech to Japanese and U.S. troops as they aboard Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's (JMSDF) helicopter carrier DDH-184 Kaga at JMSDF Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, May 28. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
North Korea rejected a summit proposal by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, calling the suggestion a "brazen-faced" move, Monday.
A spokesman from the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said: "If Japan wants to talk about 'the right judgment and decision,' then that's exactly what we want to tell them," citing recent remarks by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.
Kono hinted at supporting "sanctions-easing" only after the North made "the right judgment and decision,"
The spokesman continued: "Now, Japan is required to make a bold decision. They need to write a new history, and admit to the wrongdoings that Japan committed. The thickness of the skin of Abe's group is like a bear's paw as Japan wants to hold a summit with us without preconditions."
The remarks, made in an interview with the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), were released Monday.
"Abe is tirelessly knocking on Pyongyang's door by promoting his voice just like the Japanese government's principle on nuclear talks with the DPRK has changed. But not even small changes or adjustments were made to Japan's deeply hostile policy toward our country as Kono is talking about increased sanctions pressure," he said.
The spokesman was referring to North Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
This is the North's first official response to last month's proposal by Abe for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Abe is the only major regional leader who hasn't met with Kim.
At that time, Abe has said he was willing to meet Kim "without conditions," and wanted to "break the current mutual distrust," softening his previous stance. Before, he said a summit would have to be preceded by the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 80s.
During his recent visit to Tokyo, U.S. President Donald Trump told Abe that Washington supported a possible Abe-Kim summit as a means to revive the nuclear diplomacy, which has been stalled since the failure of the summit in Hanoi.
Intelligence sources in Seoul said Japanese officials may hold discussions with North Korea on the sidelines of a Northeast Asian security conference to be held in Ulaanbaatar on June 5 and 6.
"Simply, it's useless to cry out for an advancement of relations, unless Japan abandons its wicked character," the KCNA quoted North Korean official as saying.
Japanese government officials have been pursuing the abduction issue, asking Trump to raise it during his summits with Kim. Tokyo has framed it as a key precondition for improved relations with Pyongyang, according to political analysts in Seoul.
North Korea is believed to have kidnapped 17 Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s. Five were repatriated, leaving the fate of the other 12 "in doubt." Pyongyang has so far refused to admit to some of the kidnappings while claiming other missing abductees died in the country.
