Opinion | Trump-Kim failed, but can Japan’s Abe reach North Korea through China?
- With Washington and Pyongyang in a stalemate, Tokyo has an opportunity regarding Japanese abductees in North Korea
- But if Abe is next to ‘face Chairman Kim’, he’ll need a hotline to Pyongyang. Who’s he going to call?
However, getting into talks with Pyongyang would be difficult for Tokyo without some measure of progress on the issue of Japanese abductees – Japan has listed about 17 men and women it says were taken by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. But Pyongyang says that only 13 were abducted, five were returned in 2002, while the remaining eight are dead (though the North has never provided any conclusive evidence).
It is possible that with the current stalemate with Washington, Pyongyang may be tempted to make some overtures to Tokyo. For Abe, the North Korean imbroglio also represents a huge opportunity. If he can bring back the remaining Japanese in North Korean custody before he steps down from power in 2021 he will cement his position in Japanese history.
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