North Korea vehemently rejected a proposal from Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on Monday for a summit with communist dictator Kim Jong-un, warning that the country must first “give up its wicked character.”
Last month, Abe expressed a willingness to meet with Kim Jong-un “without precondition.” The call marked a shift in his government policy, as Japan has spent decades demanding the return of dozens of its citizens abducted by the North Korean regime between 1977 and 1983, of whom at least 12 remain unaccounted for.
The North Korean regime rejected calls for any summit on Monday. A spokesperson for the country’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which is responsible for organizing diplomatic policies and exchanges, described the call as the “height of brazen-facedness.”
“The Abe group is talking about the ‘opening of summit talks without precondition’ while desperately hurting the DPRK, which is the height of brazen-facedness,” said the committee spokesperson, according to state media. “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 spokesperson went on to demand that Abe’s administration lift economic sanctions imposed against the regime should they want a meeting similar to that between Kim and President Donald Trump, while also a directly attacking Japanese Foreign Minister Kono Taro with a variety of insults.
“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,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
“It is useless to cry out for the improvement of relations unless Japan gives up its wicked character,” they continued. “Even though there is no able man in Japan, it is pitiful that such a poor-grade being as weasel-faced Kono who always makes hare-brained and loathsome words serves as foreign minister.”
Responding to the statement, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Suga Yoshide, insisted the government remained open to negotiations with the regime. “Prime Minister Abe is prepared to break the shell of mutual distrust and directly face Chairman Kim in order to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issues, and most importantly of all, the issue of the abductions [of Japanese nationals],” he said.
Japan remains a steadfast ally of the U.S. and South Korea, dating back to the 1950s and the Korean War and, as such, has repeatedly been the target of Pyongyang’s aggressive rhetoric. In 2017, state media warned that Japan would be swiftly “engulfed in flames” should a war breaks out, while Abe warned last year that the regime represented the biggest threat to their national security since World War II due to their extensive illegal nuclear weapons program.
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