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Sister of North Korean leader pours cold water on Japanese prime minister's hopes for summit

Published: 23 Mar. 2026, 21:22

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, attends a reception in the Great Hall of People following a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2025. [AFP/YONHAP]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, dashed the Japanese prime minister's hopes for a summit, saying that such events cannot happen "simply because Japan wants to or is determined to" hold them.

“It was reported by foreign media that the prime minister of Japan expressed her strong willingness to realize the DPRK-Japan summit during the U.S.-Japan summit held in Washington on March 19,” Kim said in a statement released Monday through the Korean Central News Agency. “But this is not the one that comes true, as wanted or decided by Japan.

“If the prime minister of Japan seeks to resolve its unilateral matter not recognized by us, our state leadership will have no intention to meet or sit face to face with her.”

The “unilateral matter” Kim referred to appears to mean the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.

Kim, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was responding to remarks Takaichi made to reporters after the Japan-U.S. summit at the White House in Washington last Thursday. Takaichi claimed Trump had expressed support for resolving the abductee issue and that she had conveyed to him “a very strong desire” to meet Kim Jong-un directly.

The Prime Minister’s Office of Japan and the White House both announced that the United States supports Japan’s determination to resolve the abductee issue.

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with Japanese Prime Minster Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on March 19. [EPA/YONHAP]

The Japanese government says 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Of them, five returned to Japan in 2002 after then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang, while the remaining 12 are believed to still be in North Korea.

North Korea, however, claims that eight of the 12 are dead and that four never entered the country, insisting there is no issue left to resolve. Japan’s official abductee-issue materials say Pyongyang admitted in 2002 that among the 13 abductees then officially identified, four were alive, eight were dead and one had not entered North Korea.

“In order for the top leaders of the two countries to meet each other, Japan should first be determined to break with its anachronistic practice and habit,” said Kim. “But today's Japan has gone too far in the opposite direction.”

“We have nothing to talk face to face to such a party still keen on obsolete thinking and impossible idea,” said Kim. “I don't want to see the prime minister of Japan coming to Pyongyang. However, this is just my personal position."

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]