Japan's PM ‘Ready’ to Meet with N. Korea's leader without Preconditions - FARS

(FNA)- Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that he is ready to meet with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un without preconditions.

His remarks come as Pyongyang has intensified fire-testing of its newly-developed missiles over the last month, RIA Novosti reported.

Kishida additionally noted that Tokyo will strengthen its defence capability and continue to see the US-Japanese alliance as the cornerstone of the nation's foreign policy.

Last Week, senior defence officials from the US, Japan, and South Korea held a call during which they discussed regional security and the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

The discussion took place following reports suggesting that North Korea test-fired its newly-developed hypersonic and anti-air missiles. Overall, there have been at least six launches by Pyongyang since early 2021.

Aside from concerns over Pyongyang's missile programmes, Japan also believes North Korea may pose a cybersecurity threat. On September 28, Tokyo adopted the country's three-year cybersecurity strategy roadmap that lists North Korea as one of the emerging cyberthreat nations with beefed up capabilities, along with China and Russia.

Notably, the first and last time the leaders of North Korea and Japan met in person was in 2002, when Japan's PM Koizumi Junichiro paid a visit to Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong-Il to discuss the issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens. Back in 2019, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced a readiness to meet with Kim without conditions to end the long-running mistrust between the nations. This meeting, however, never materialised.