Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has stated that he is ready to meet with North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un without preconditions. His remarks come as Pyongyang has intensified fire-testing of its newly-developed missiles over the last month.
Kishida additionally noted that Tokyo will strengthen its defence capability and continue to see the US-Japanese alliance as the cornerstone of the nation's foreign policy.
Last week, senior defence officials from the US, Japan, and South Korea held a call during which they discussed regional security and the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.
The discussion took place following reports suggesting that North Korea test-fired its newly-developed hypersonic and anti-air missiles. Overall, there have been at least six launches by Pyongyang since early 2021.
Aside from concerns over Pyongyang's missile programmes, Japan also believes North Korea may pose a cybersecurity threat. On 28 September, Tokyo adopted the country's three-year cybersecurity strategy roadmap that lists North Korea as one of the emerging cyberthreat nations with beefed up capabilities, along with China and Russia.
Notably, the leaders of North Korea and Japan met twice in person. In 2002, Japan's PM Koizumi Junichiro paid a visit to Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong-Il to discuss the issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens. In 2004, Junichiro Koizumi paid another visit to the DPRK to meet with his North Korean counterpart. Back in 2019, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced a readiness to meet with Kim Jong-un without conditions to end the long-running mistrust between the nations. This meeting, however, never materialised.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2nd R) shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (L) after their summit meeting at the Taedonggang state guesthouse in Pyongyang, 22 May 2004
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