US foreign policy figures have not balked at the idea that Japan would lift its own sanctions on North Korea if the reclusive state returns all Japanese nationals it kidnapped decades ago, the head of the US said. family group of those abducted on Tuesday.
The U.S. side has “raised no objections” to the negotiating policy the group adopted in February, Takuya Yokota said at a news conference in Washington. His older sister Megumi was kidnapped by North Korea at the age of 13.
After arriving in the United States on Monday, Yokota and accompanying group members met with Daniel Kritenbrink, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Senator William Hagerty, the former US Ambassador to Japan, and other key figures to call for their understanding of the group’s compromise resolution to achieve the early return of the kidnap victims.
Yokota cited Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s efforts for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying: “We want to cherish the signs (of dialogue).”
“There is no reason to be angry” by Pyongyang’s claim that the kidnapping issue has been resolved and its refusal to hold talks, Yokota also said. He then demanded that Tokyo conduct “strong diplomatic negotiations behind closed doors.”
At the news conference, Koichiro Iizuka, whose mother, Yaeko Taguchi, was kidnapped at the age of 22, called the de facto abolition of a U.N. panel that monitors North Korea’s compliance with U.N. sanctions “a negative development” . the land will decline.
The visiting members urged senior U.S. government officials to consider alternative measures with Japan and other concerned countries, Taguchi’s eldest son noted.
