Abe willing to meet N Korean leader Kim to settle abduction issue

Really promising news. Time for a big Summit in Hokkaido. PM Abe will do a deal with Chairman Kim.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he is willing to hold direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to break a deadlock over the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North decade ago.

Instead of talking about it all the time make the invitation, Kim sure the hell is not going to invite you, he doesnt have the money to host a summit!

Really promising news. Time for a big Summit in Hokkaido. PM Abe will do a deal with Chairman Kim.

Kim is not going to come to Japan, the meeting between these two would have to occur in a third country.

Kim is not going to come to Japan, the meeting between these two would have to occur in a third country.

I must disagree. It would be better to realize this famous meeting in Hokkaido. G8 was there, security is unrivalled and it would boost/promote tourism in Hokkaido to the world.

And here's how it would go :

Abe : We want the abductees back.

Kim : We already returned the one's that were here, the others are already dead.

Abe : I DON'T BELIEVE YOU !!!!

Everyone go home with nothing.

The end.

Kim has made it pretty clear he has no interest in meeting Shinz.

Lolololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol

Another medal of failure to hang on the wall for the bumbling 'leader'

Matter is closed and has been for decades. More useless propaganda by Abe. He should be in jail for how he has cynically used the families in this manufactured PR stunt.

Abe really just needs to be quiet. He's just embarrassing himself and making himself look more and more foolish by saying things like this. Of course, the right wing will always find a way to spin it as some great leadership exhibition by their Nippon Kaigi sock puppet.

Abe has no choice. North Korea is a neighbor. No matter what, he has to make the best of it.

Abe was the chief promoter of sanctions against NK and his futile efforts only exposed him as a minor player or errant boy as his master Don has since met kim twice with the spot light on kim and don while abe as be shown to irrelevant.

@zurcronium Good point. As I see it this is just an exercise in politics to promote big government and keep the perception going that we really need to rely on them. It benefits both sides.

On a related note, it wasn't until 2014 that the Japanese government finally became a party to the Hague Convention for International Child Abduction. Until that time children were routinely abducted by their Japanese parents back to the safe haven of Japan. Even now it appears that the Japanese government is continuing to ignore its pledge to this convention ...

Although Japan has signed the Hague Convention, which is designed to prevent a parent from moving a child to another country and blocking access by the former partner, Tokyo demonstrates “a pattern of noncompliance” with the pact, according to the U.S. State Department.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/25/national/crime-legal/foreign-parents-fight-vain-custody-children-japan-despite-hague-convention/

Hmm, hypocrite is a word that comes to mind when I read that Abe is trying to settle the NK abduction issue while ignoring similar problems in his own back yard.

From Wikipedia: International child abduction in Japan refers to the illegal international abduction or removal of children from their country of habitual residence by an acquaintance or family member to Japan or their retention in Japan in contravention to the law of another country. Most cases involve a Japanese mother taking her children to Japan in defiance of visitation or joint custody orders issued by Western courts. The issue is a growing problem as the number of international marriages increases.[1] Barring exceptional circumstances, the effects of child abduction are generally detrimental to the welfare of children. Parental abduction often has a particularly devastating effect on parents who may never see their children again.

Abe: Where are our people?

Kim: Give us some money and we will check.

Abe: Ok.

Kim: Thank you.... there are no people here, case closed.

Repeat 2 years later.

Abe really just needs to be quiet. He's just embarrassing himself and making himself look more and more foolish by saying things like this.

Maybe that's a good thing :)

Abesans politicking again!

Unpopular Opinion: The abduction issue is so small and minor compared the overall threat of the NK regime poses on the region, and there are much more important issues on the table. Abe refuses to go to the table unless he first finds out what happened to the remaining dozen or so people that disappeared almost half century ago.

Good Man. I really hope this works out well for Abe San.

I do have a selfish reason for saying this. If this meeting ends well? Abe San will be poking a sharp little stick into trumps eye. Trump failed! Hopefully Abe San will not.

'"I have to meet face-to-face with Chairman Kim Jong Un to resolve this issue," Abe said at the outset of a meeting with family members of abduction victims.'

So, that's four times he's met them now since supporting a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump for what he's done with Kim, including supporting a statement saying that there is now peace on the Korean Peninsula and NK agreed to abolish 100% their nuclear program. We know he needs the political points, but still! Four times!! ANd now he's saying Something he KNOWS Kim would never agree to so he can go back to the families -- whom he evidently considers not only political pawns but also fools -- and say, "I tried, but not my fault!"

@BintaroToday  07:47 am JST

And here's how it would go :

Abe : We want the abductees back.

Kim : We already returned the one's that were here, the others are already dead.

Also, return the thousands of kids with foreign fathers you kidnapped placing Japan

on international blacklist for child abductions.

Abe: dead silence.

Everyone go home with nothing.

The end.

abe san, it is not willing , it is yr duty to meet Kim , to help yr country man & woman ???.why every time, we have to tell u the obvious ???.

Agreed Japan should drop it. North Korea has already said they don't have them and they are more trustworthy. No country on Earth goes to these lengths to find their citizens

My 2cents. Contrary to what the Japanese establishment has led people to believe, that , the NK issue is about abduction , I believe it is just the LEAST of the litany of beef with NK. But , it is the MOST palatable palliative for the Japanese people.

Every time they have a fruitless meeting they'd come back and tell the citizenry " We refused their demand for aid without repatriation of the abductees " and the people will swallow it because Japan stood " Firm".

No!! There MUST be something more NK is demanding which Japan dares NOT reveal to its people in order to save face. Abduction? Hell!! NK would have given them back long ago in exchange of anything they wanted because this is a thorn in the Japanese establishment's seat . Tell me another.

I must disagree. It would be better to realize this famous meeting in Hokkaido. G8 was there, security is unrivalled and it would boost/promote tourism in Hokkaido to the world.

You don't understand international politics one bit if you think for a moment that Kim is going to step foot into the country of his second most hated enemy after the US.

Literally like "Daniel walking into the lions den", not to mention is legitimizes Abe's claims as well among a bunch of other symbolic reasons.

ZENJIMar. 7  11:56 am JST

Trump failed! Hopefully Abe San will not.

Abe San is not even going to try to do anything. All he's good for is hackneyed soundbites.