North Korea's Kim Yo-jong: "We Will Reject Any Contact or Negotiations with Japan"

Stated in the Choson Central News Agency Statement on the 26th

Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the Workers' Party of North Korea
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un and Deputy Director of the Workers' Party, stated on the 16th that "we will ignore and reject any contact or negotiations with Japan" and announced that they will not pursue a summit with Japan in the future.

In a statement released through the Korean Central News Agency on the same day, Kim said, "Japan has no courage whatsoever to change history, promote peace and stability in the region, or take the first step toward a new North Korea-Japan relationship."

She criticized, "Japan brought up the so-called nuclear and missile issues, which have nothing to do with us, attempting to interfere with and problematize our sovereign exercise of legitimate self-defense," adding, "Japan's attitude of clinging to insurmountable problems that cannot and should not be resolved speaks for itself."

She continued, "North Korea-Japan relations must not be exploited for the political calculations of the Japanese Prime Minister, who is conscious of historically low approval ratings," and claimed, "It was the Japanese side that first knocked on the door by requesting an 'unconditional North Korea-Japan summit.'

Kim firmly stated, "A North Korea-Japan summit is not a matter of interest to us."

In a statement the previous day, Kim Yo-jong said that Japan had conveyed its willingness to hold a North Korea-Japan summit and emphasized that "the important factor in opening a new path for improving North Korea-Japan relations is Japan's practical political decision."

In response, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida maintained his existing stance on the possibility of a North Korea-Japan summit, saying, "Nothing has been decided yet," but added, "A summit is important to resolve all issues with North Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.