TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2019) Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held telephone talks on Monday and agreed to meet in February before the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Japanese Foreign Ministry reported on Monday.
On Friday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders announced that Trump would hold his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the end of next month and a place for it would be announced later. On the same day, Trump discussed with North Korean Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol in Washington details of the preparations for the summit.
"Both ministers agreed to coordinate a proposal to hold talks between the foreign ministers of Japan and the United States in mid-February, if circumstances allow," the ministry said in a statement.
Pompeo explained to Kono the outcome of Trump's meeting with Kim Yong Chol, the Japanese ministry added.
It also reported that Kono and Pompeo had confirmed their readiness to cooperate for the fast resolution of the problem of the Japanese citizens abducted in the past by North Korean intelligence services.
Tokyo is closely following Washington-Pyongyang negotiations, waiting for the possibility of discussing the fate of the abducted Japanese with the North Korean side. For its part, North Korea believes that the problem was resolved when, in 2002, it expressed regret to Japan about the abductions and allowed five forcibly abducted Japanese to return to their homeland.
