Japan PM Takaichi’s summit proposal gets no reply from North Korea: Sources

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s proposal for a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has not received a reply from Pyongyang, government sources said Tuesday.
Takaichi had broached the idea to North Korea immediately after she took office on Oct. 21, they said. The revelations came after the prime minister said she made the proposal at a gathering on Monday in Tokyo to call for the resolution of the past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara declined to comment on the details of North Korea’s reaction during a press conference Tuesday, only saying that the Japanese government is approaching Pyongyang “through various channels.”
Japan’s government officially lists 17 people as abducted in the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea and suspects Pyongyang’s involvement in many other disappearances.
Five were repatriated in October 2002 following landmark talks between then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang the previous month.
Since Koizumi visited Pyongyang and met Kim Jong Il again in 2004, there has been