North Korea on Tuesday rejected any further contact or negotiations with Japan and said a floated summit meeting between leader Kim Jong Un and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is of no concern to it, according to state-run media.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of the North Korean leader, clarified Pyongyang's stance in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a day after Tokyo rejected her call to drop its insistence on the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
The sister, who is a senior official in the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, criticized Japan for "clinging to the unattainable issues which can never be settled," referring to the abduction issue.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan's top government spokesman, on Monday called that stance "totally unacceptable."
In a statement Monday, Kim Yo Jong revealed that Kishida had conveyed his wish to meet Kim Jong Un "as soon as possible."
Asked about Kim Yo Jong's latest statement, Kishida told reporters on Tuesday evening that Japan will "continue its efforts" to tackle various issues concerning North Korea but added he would refrain from reacting to all of her remarks.
Kim Yo Jong said in February that a visit by Kishida to Pyongyang would be possible if Japan does not make the abduction of its nationals an obstacle, according to KCNA. Tokyo officially lists a total of 17 Japanese nationals as abductees.
Japan "knocked at the door first," requesting a bilateral summit "without preconditions," she said Tuesday. Pyongyang only clarified its stance that Tokyo would be welcome "if it is ready to make a new start, not being obsessed by the past," she added.
North Korea has "clearly understood once again the attitude of Japan" and concluded that it will "pay no attention" to it, adding that a summit is likewise "not a matter of concern."
The sister also claimed Japan's policy of trying to address North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs in addition to the abduction issue is an attempt to "interfere in and take issue with the exercise of sovereignty" belonging to Pyongyang's "legitimate self-defense."
Referring to the slumping approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet, she said the prime minister's bid to meet with Kim Jong Un should be regarded as "politically motivated," insisting bilateral relations "should not be used for the political calculation" of the Japanese leader.
Japan and North Korea have no official diplomatic ties. In 2002, five abductees were returned to Japan after then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with North Korea's leader at the time, Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang, in the first-ever summit between the two countries.
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