Will North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un go in for a summit with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the near future and relations between the two East Asian nations get better?

Observers say the prospects of any Kim-Takaichi summit are bleak. No doubt, one of the top items on Prime Minister Takaichi’ foreign policy agenda today is to secure the return of the Japanese citizens allegedly abducted by North Korean agents in the late 1970s and 1980s. She has been in touch with  the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea (AFVKN) and the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea (NARKN)) in the country. She has promised them she would do the needful in the matter. Takaichi has also sent proposal to hold a summit with the North Korean dictator Kim in order to resolve this issue.

Regrettably, Dictator Kim does not seem to be willing to have any summit with Premier Takaichi. There is hardly any such tradition in the contemporary diplomacy of North Korea. The only exception to this can be found in 2002 and 2004 when Japan’s then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang to meet then dictator of the North Kim Jong Il, the current one’s father .

Moreover, Kim is far more obstinate than his father. Under his leadership in North Korea today, Pyongyang has turned militarily too aggressive to be moderate towards Japan. The other day, Pyongyang fired its short-range ballistic missile that landed in the waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

On her part, Premier Takaichi too, is highly unlikely to take any risk in the matters related to Japan’s security. She is totally committed to keep all of Japan’s traditional defence commitments. Recently, she has hinted in her parliament that Tokyo would provide military support for Taipei in case of a Chinese attack on the democratic island.

Reports are that, following the recent firing of the missile outside its waters, Deputy Director-General of Japan’s Asian and Oceanic Affairs Bureau Otsuka Kengo has already been in touch with his South Korean and US counterparts Baek Yong-jin and Dan Cintron for coordination to meet any threat that might arise on the front of Japanese security.

The observers assert Tokyo is being aware the nature of the North Korean state is constantly aggressive. The former Japanese Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida also wanted to meet Kim and resolve the issue of the abductees, but in vain.

Also, Japan today seems to calculate it can bank on South Korea in regard to its security. Sharing common security interests in the Indo-Pacific region today, Washington very much wants Seoul to work with Tokyo. Its focus today is on having allies play a bigger role in their defense and rely less on the US. Seoul is increasingly in agreement with Washington on this front. It has of late hiked its defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product.

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