North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju, left, talk with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan in Beijing. Photo / AP
Japan has sounded out the North Korean Government about a bilateral summit, and Pyongyang has discussed the possibility of a leaders' meeting with Japan and other countries, Japan's Asahi newspaper says.
The Government of Kim Jong Un informed leaders of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers Party of the possibility of
summits with Japan, Russia and other countries, the newspaper said today, citing an unidentified North Korean source and briefing papers.
"The Japanese Government has expressed a wish to host a leaders meeting, via the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan," or Chongryong, Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Japan, the Asahi quoted the briefing papers as saying.
A Japanese government source told Reuters in mid-March that Japan was considering seeking a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Kim to discuss Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago.
The Asahi said in an article from Seoul that Kim's Government had discussed the possibility of summits with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, in that order.
