North Korea's Response to 'North Korea-Japan Summit'... Government Says "Close Communication Among South Korea, US, and Japan Ongoing"

Regarding Kim Yo-jong, Vice Department Director of the Workers' Party of Korea, mentioning the possibility of a North Korea-Japan summit, the government stated that "South Korea, the U.S., and Japan are communicating closely."

Kim In-ae, Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification, said at a regular briefing on the 16th in response to questions about Kim Yo-jong's statement, "The government is closely monitoring the recent relations between Japan and North Korea."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also commented on the possibility of improving North Korea-Japan relations on the same day, saying, "It should be realized in a way that helps North Korea's denuclearization and peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," and explained, "The government is in close communication with relevant parties regarding North Korea's nuclear and related issues."

Earlier, Kim Yo-jong stated in a statement the previous day that if Japan does not regard North Korea's right to self-defense and the abduction issue as obstacles, there would be no reason for the two countries not to get closer, and that a day could come when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits Pyongyang.

Prime Minister Kishida also expressed his willingness to pursue a summit with North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un during the House of Representatives Budget Committee on the 9th, saying, "We are specifically engaged in various activities."

This led to speculation that a North Korea-Japan summit might be realized. For North Korea, there is a need to send a warning to South Korea, which established diplomatic relations with Cuba, a brotherly country, for the first time in history, and Japan also needs a major diplomatic event to recover Prime Minister Kishida's low approval ratings.

However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, a spokesperson for the Japanese government, emphasized at a regular press conference on the morning of the same day that while they are "paying attention" to Kim Yo-jong's statement the previous day, they "cannot accept at all" the mention in the statement that the abduction issue has been resolved.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Unification criticized North Korea for deleting 'Samcheolli' from the lyrics of the national anthem as an anti-national act.

According to the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the part of the North Korean national anthem lyrics that previously read 'Samcheolli areumdaun nae joguk' (Beautiful my homeland of Samcheolli) has been changed to 'I sesang areumdaun nae joguk' (Beautiful my homeland of this world).

Deputy Spokesperson Kim In-ae said, "We express regret over North Korea's anti-national act of trying to erase even unification-related terms by removing the word Samcheolli, which refers to the Korean Peninsula, the homeland of the nation for 5,000 years, from their 'national anthem.'"