Senior officials of North Korea and Japan met last month in Vietnam,... possibly to discuss the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.
While the U.S. was irritated to learn that Tokyo did not inform Washington about the meeting,... Japanese officials are said to generally agree... that the issue can't be resolved by depending on Washington alone.
Oh Jung-hee reports.
It's being reported that North Korea and Japan held secret talks in Vietnam last month,... WITHOUT informing the United States.
The Washington Post reports the talks were held in July between the head of Japan's Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, Shigeru Kitamura,... and Kim Song-hye, the North's senior official in charge of reunification.
The report says senior U.S. officials expressed irritation Tokyo did not provide information about the meeting.
But it added Japanese officials believe they cannot solely rely on the U.S. to solve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North in the 1970s and 80s.
The issue has been a stumbling block in Pyongyang and Tokyo improving their relations... and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has continuously called on the U.S. to try and resolve it.
Meanwhile, a Japanese tourist who was detained in North Korea was sent home on Tuesday.
Tomoyuki Sugimoto,... who is said to be a video journalist, arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday after flying in from China.
He was reportedly detained in early August for filming a military facility in Nampo,... a city located some 50 kilometers southwest of Pyongyang.
Japan's foreign ministry plans to question him on why and how he was detained, what he had to go through before being released... and what North Korea's intentions are.
Sources say Sugimoto could have been released after such a short period of time because his alleged crime was relatively minor.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
