Japan's Kishida willing to meet N. Korea's Kim

Japan's Kishida willing to meet N. Korea's Kim
by AFP Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 15, 2023

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is willing to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un "without preconditions", a top government official said Friday.

The prime minister has previously said he was ready to hold talks with Kim, but the reiterated invitation comes after the North Korean leader travelled to Russia to met President Vladimir Putin this week.

That meeting sparked worries of a possible arms agreement after US officials warned Moscow was in search of ammunition to use in the Ukraine conflict.

"We would like to hold high-level discussions under direct control of the prime minister to achieve a summit meeting as soon as possible," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters at a regular briefing.

Kishida "has been expressing his determination to directly face" Kim at "any time and without preconditions," said Matsuno.

Following a summit with Putin on Wednesday, Kim travelled to Russia's Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a far eastern industrial city where he reportedly visited a military aviation factory on Friday.

Longtime allies Russia and North Korea are both under rafts of global sanctions -- Moscow for its Ukraine conflict and Pyongyang for its nuclear tests.

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters on Thursday that Tokyo was watching the Russia-North Korea talks "with concerns, including the possibility that it could lead to violations of the Security Council's ban on all arms-related material transactions with North Korea".

Kim Jong Un invites Putin to North Korea as Russia visit continues
Washington DC (UPI) Sep 14, 2023 - Kim Jong Un invited Russian President Vladimir Putin for a visit to his isolated country, state media reported Thursday, as the North Korean leader's tour of Russia continued amid speculation over a pending arms deal.

Kim extended the offer during a meeting with Putin Wednesday at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a rocket launch facility in far eastern Siberia, state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

"At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time," KCNA reported.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

"Putin accepted the invitation with pleasure and reaffirmed his will to invariably carry forward the history and tradition of the Russia-DPRK friendship," the report added.

However, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a reciprocal visit was "not on the agenda yet," according to state news agency TASS.

Kim continued his trip in Russia on Thursday, TASS reported, heading by armored train to the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur for a planned tour of military and civilian aircraft plants. He is scheduled to continue on to the port city of Vladivostok to inspect Russia's Pacific Fleet.

The White House expressed concern Wednesday over a "budding arms deal" between Pyongyang and Moscow, citing intelligence that Kim would likely help supply Putin with weapons for its war in Ukraine.

"We obviously have concerns about any burgeoning defense relationship between North Korea and Russia," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing in Washington. "No nation on the planet, nobody, should be helping Mr. Putin kill innocent Ukrainians."

Kirby said it was "entirely likely that Mr. Putin was at the very least going to seek artillery."

"We expect it could be other types of munitions, but we just don't have perfect visibility on that," he added.

Kim, meanwhile, is reportedly seeking advanced technology for the North's space and missile programs.

"The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in rocket technology," Putin told reporters at the Vostochny Cosmodrome Wednesday. "They are also trying to develop space."

North Korea made a pair of failed attempts to place a military spy satellite in orbit in May and August, and has vowed another launch in October.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Washington was looking to "impose costs and consequences" for any weapons deal between Pyongyang and Moscow.

"We don't want to see Russia be in a position where it can strengthen the capabilities it's bringing to dealing with the aggression on Ukraine, and we also don't want to see North Korea benefitting from whatever technologies it might get from Russia," Blinken said during an interview on the Pod Save the World podcast.

"We're working with other countries; we're taking our own actions to try to disrupt as much of that as we possibly can," he said.

South Korea also warned Thursday that Putin and Kim appeared to be pursuing "some kind of military deal."

"We once again urge Russia and North Korea to stop engaging in illegal and reckless acts that bring about their own isolation and regression and to comply with international norms such as U.N. Security Council resolutions," Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho told reporters.

Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer amid a growing geopolitical divide sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In July, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang, where he toured a weapons expo and viewed a military parade, sparking concerns of a potential arms sale.

Russia, along with China, has repeatedly blocked U.S.-led efforts at the United Nations Security Council to take action against North Korea over a flurry of weapons tests, including its launch of a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile in July.

Pyongyang fired a pair of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, while the North Korean leader vowed at his meeting with Putin that he will "always be standing with Russia"

Kim added that the "Russian military and its people will inherit the shining tradition of victory," in an apparent show of support for Moscow's Ukraine invasion.