Japan and North Korea will resume high-level bilateral talks after a hiatus of over a year.
On Thursday, Japan and North Korea agreed that they would hold formal high-level talks for the first time in over a year, according to Japan’s Jiji news agency. So far, neither side has publicly declared any agenda for the talks. The agreement to hold high-level talks was a byproduct of an informal diplomatic meeting between Japanese and North Korean diplomats and Red Cross officials in Shenyang, China. The Japanese delegation is expected to be led by Junichi Ihara, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau. Song Il Ho, a DPRK official in charge of Japanese affairs and ambassador for talks to normalize bilateral relations, will lead the North Korean delegation, according to The Japan Times.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe noted at a press conference that the talks with North Korea are an “important step” and that he’d “like to resume talks as soon as possible.” After North Korea fired a long-range rocket over Japan in late 2012, the Japanese side suspended all formal talks. In addition to pursuing bilateral efforts with North Korea, Japan is a member of the Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapon program — a diplomatic effort that came to a halt in 2008 although it is appearing on the radar again this year thanks to efforts by Chinese and North Korean officials alike.
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