“Common future’: Why Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister is suddenly courting arch-enemy Japan. Japan and North Korea do not have official diplomatic relations.
Tokyo claims that North Korea is still preventing twelve Japanese citizens from leaving the country. According to Pyongyang, eight of the alleged hostages have already died and the other four never set foot in North Korea. North Korea last released five kidnapped Japanese people in 2002. The US supports Fumio Kishida's plans to visit N. Korea.