Japan must put diplomatic normalization with DPRK before abductee issue: former PM | NK News
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December 27, 2024

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Japan must put diplomatic normalization with DPRK before abductee issue: former PM

Yukio Hatoyama says improving relations must come before any resolution of the decades-long dispute

While U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have grown closer in the past year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been left in the cold.

North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals is a long-running source of contention between the two nations. Anger still simmers among many about the abductees, most famously Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped at the age of 13 in 1977.

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