Japan, North Korea held secret meeting in Mongolia: Report

ISTANBUL

Japan and North Korea had a secret meeting in Mongolia, according to a media report.

The meeting involving a Japanese politician and three persons from North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, the nation’s intelligence gathering agency, was held near Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar in mid-May, South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo reported.

Pyongyang was represented by three persons, including one from the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the nation’s intelligence-gathering agency.

There has been no official confirmation from either side.

Japanese top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi acknowledged the media report but said he could not comment due to “the nature of the matter.”

This year, Tokyo has at least thrice sought a summit-level meeting between leaders of Japan and North Korea. But Pyongyang has turned down the proposals.

The media report claimed that the two sides were expected to meet last week in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. “It is unclear whether (the contact) was made as planned,” it added.

Tokyo has been saying it wants to solve the alleged abduction issue with Pyongyang. North Korea, however, says it has nothing to solve with respect to the abduction issue.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said this February that there "may come a day" when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits Pyongyang “if Japan does not make the abduction issue an obstacle between the two countries.”

In 2002, North Korea admitted that it had sent agents to abduct 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, pressing them into service and training its spies in Japanese language and customs in what has since remained a major issue in Japan.

Japan's former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a landmark visit to Pyongyang in 2002 and met with Kim's father, Kim Jong-il.

His visit resulted in the return of five Japanese nationals and a follow-up trip by Koizumi, but the diplomacy soon broke down following Tokyo’s claim that Pyongyang was not coming clean about the abduction victims.