Japanese gov't keen to know how China-N. Korea summit covered denuclearization
(Mainichi Japan)
The Japanese government is paying close attention to how the Chinese and North Korean leaders discussed denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during a recent summit meeting in Beijing.
"The government has serious interest in the matter and is trying to gather and analyze relevant information," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a House of Councillors Budget Committee session on March 28. "We'd like to receive an explanation from China."
There are concerns within the government that closer ties between Beijing and Pyongyang could delay efforts to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed on the evening of March 27 that Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks the previous day.
"There are differences between what China and North Korea announced regarding the talks. We'd like to gather information on what they actually talked about," said a senior ministry official.
"There's some information that hasn't been confirmed, so we'd like to share information and closely cooperate with relevant countries while analyzing the information," Foreign Minister Taro Kono told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee session on March 28. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to visit Japan in early April.
While some government officials expect China to support efforts toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, others are wary that Beijing could ease sanctions on North Korea or restrictions on oil supplies to Pyongyang.
In the upper house budget panel meeting, Prime Minister Abe highly evaluated the international community's efforts to put pressure on North Korea, saying the policy led to the latest China-North Korea summit and agreement to hold South-North and Washington-Pyongyang summit meetings.
"Sanctions must be maintained unless North Korea takes concrete action to abandon its nuclear weapons and missiles," Abe said.
There are observations that China may resume the long suspended six-party talks as a venue for consultations on Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
The six-party talks -- involving Japan, China, South Korea, the United States, Russia and North Korea -- began in 2003 and adopted a joint statement in 2005 declaring that Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear arms and all nuclear weapons plans. However, talks have been suspended since the last meeting in 2008 because of a conflict over how to verify North Korea has abandoned its nuclear weapons and plans.
Noting that the suspension of the six-party talks has ended up allowing North Korea to make progress on its nuclear development, a source close to the Japanese government said, "The same thing as we saw in the past could be repeated. It's nonsense to resume the six-party talks."
Nobuhiro Miura, a legislator from the LDP's junior coalition partner Komeito, pointed out in the upper house budget panel that "the public is concerned that Japan could be left behind amid the rapidly changing situation in Northeast Asia."
In response, Prime Minister Abe suggested that he will hold consultations with U.S. President Donald Trump over North Korea's medium- and short-range missiles that pose a threat to Japan's security as well as the issue of abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea. "I'd like to explain Japan's position at Japan-U.S. summit talks next month," the prime minister said.