North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui reiterated Pyongyang's stance Friday that it will reject any contact with Japan and that a dialogue with Tokyo is "not a matter of concern" to her country, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The minister criticized Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's pledge Thursday that Japan will continue to address issues related to North Korea, including its past abductions of Japanese nationals.
"I cannot understand why he persistently adheres to the issue that cannot be settled and has nothing to be solved while trying hard to deny and shun the reality," Choe said in a statement carried by KCNA.
North Korea "has neither the responsibility nor the will to make any effort" to solve the abduction issue, she added.
Choe also said Pyongyang will "always respond sharply to Japan's behavior of interfering with its exercise of sovereignty," in reference to its missile and nuclear programs.
North Korean Ambassador to China Ri Ryong Nam said separately the same day that a Japanese Embassy official in Beijing on Thursday sent an email and proposed contact with a councilor of North Korea's embassy, according to KCNA.
"I make it clear once again that the DPRK has no reason to meet with the Japanese side at any level," the envoy said, referring to the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, according to KCNA.
The two countries have no diplomatic ties.
Since early 2023, Kishida has expressed eagerness to hold a summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un to realize the return of Japanese abducted by its agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
On Monday, the leader's sister Kim Yo Jong revealed that Kishida had conveyed his wish to meet her brother "as soon as possible," while reiterating North Korea's stance that the abduction issue has already been resolved.
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