“What if Kim Yeo-jeong comes to the Tokyo Olympics? When asked, Prime Minister Suga’s answer

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has announced that he is willing to talk to a high-ranking North Korean official visiting Japan after the Tokyo Olympics.

At the budget committee of the House of Councilors held on the 26th, Prime Minister Suga was asked a question that assumed the case of Labor Party Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong, who is the younger brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, visiting Japan during the Tokyo Olympics. I think. I want to think about all the possibilities and respond to it,” he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Suga said in an inquiry to the National Assembly in November last year that Chairman Kim visited Japan during the Tokyo Olympics and said, “I think it is a good opportunity” about the idea of ​​holding a summit meeting between North Korea and Japan.

Prime Minister Suga also said, “I will refrain from answering the family,” and “Resolving the kidnapping problem is the most important task of our regime.” Said.

While keeping the possibility of dialogue open with North Korea, he raised his voice as “Never tolerable” regarding North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile on the 25th, the commencement of the Tokyo Olympics torch. He added that when he visits the United States next month and holds a summit with US President Joe Biden, he will discuss the policy of cooperation between the two countries on North Korea policies, including ballistic missiles.

In this regard, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the North Korean nuclear and missile issues will be discussed as a major agenda at a summit meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Suga to be held in the United States next month, and that the joint statement will contain a call for “complete denuclearization of North Korea”. It was reported on the 26th.

According to reports, the U.S. and Japan governments decided to release an official statement after the first face-to-face meetings of the two leaders next month, and based on the statement adopted at the “diplomatic and defense ministers’ meeting (2+2 meetings)” held in Japan on the 16th. I entered the editorial control.

Specifically, it contains content that checks China, such as confirming the application of the US-Japan security treaty on the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name Diaoyu Island), and solidarity to realize a’free and open Indo-Pacific’. In addition, cooperation between the two countries to resolve the problem of complete denuclearization of North Korea and the abduction of Japanese citizens is expected to be included.

On the other hand, Japanese media are rushing to publish editorials stating that the trilateral cooperation between the United States and Korea is important in North Korea’s policy toward North Korea with the North Korean ballistic missile test firing. In an editorial on the 16th, Yomiuri interpreted North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile as “a conventional tactic to obtain concessions such as easing sanctions in return for responding to dialogue with the United States by raising the level of provocation.” He ordered that we need to be prepared for the military provocations.

The Nippon Geizai Shimbun (Nikkei) also evaluated in an editorial on the 26th that the Biden regime has started to rebuild the trilateral cooperation between Korea and the United States as a basis for expanding the framework of an alliance and friendly country responding to China and North Korea. “It is not normal for the Korean ambassador to Japan who was appointed last January to meet with Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu,” he said. “Japan and Korea should accelerate the movement to improve relations.”

The Mainichi Newspaper argued in the fact that “North Korea cannot change the situation through missile provocations”, “The three countries, Korea, the United States, Japan need to cooperate closely so as not to give North Korea a chance to squeeze in.”

There is also a possibility that President Biden, who meets with Prime Minister Suga in April, will return to Japan to attend the July Olympics. Prime Minister Suga said on the 26th, when asked whether to invite President Biden to the Tokyo Olympics, “I think I will do that.

Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Young-hee [email protected]