North Korea has no interest in talks with Japan, says sister of North Korean leader

North Korea said on Tuesday it had no interest in a summit with Japan and would reject any talks, state media KCNA reported, which could worsen already hostile relations between the two countries.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, stated that Japan had requested a summit without preconditions, which she would only accept if Japan was ready for a “new beginning” without “obsessing over the past”.

Bilateral relations have been strained over disputes including North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens in the early 2000s and Japan’s occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 and its use of forced labor and sexual slavery.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declined to respond directly to Kim’s comments, telling reporters on Tuesday that Japan would continue its efforts to resolve issues with North Korea based on existing policies.

Kim said Tokyo did not have “any courage” to change history after Japan raised the issue of kidnapped Japanese citizens and Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

“This is proven by Japan’s attitude of clinging to unattainable issues that can never be resolved and have nothing to be resolved,” Kim said in a statement released by KCNA.

She highlighted comments by the Japanese government’s top spokesman, Yoshimasa Hayashi, that North Korea’s claim that the abduction issue had been resolved was “totally unacceptable.”

In 2002, North Korea admitted to having kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens decades earlier. Five of those kidnapped later returned to Japan, saying the others had died. But Tokyo believes 17 Japanese were kidnapped and continues to investigate the fate of those who did not return.

Accusing Kishida of using bilateral ties as “political calculations”, Kim said his country would reject any talks with Tokyo.