SNA (Galesburg) — North Korea has been clearly signaling an interest in improving relations with Japan, although there remain far more questions than answers.

Pyongyang’s intention to reach out to Tokyo at this time is unmistakable.

The first public signal came in early January when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered a sympathy message over its New Year’s Day earthquake along the Sea of Japan coast. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi responded graciously as speculation began to rise that the exchange might prove more significant.

Much of the ambiguity was stripped away on February 15 when the dictator’s sister, Kim Yo Jong—probably the de facto deputy leader of the regime—floated her “personal opinion” that “if Japan makes a political decision to open up a new way of mending the relations through its courteous behavior and trustworthy action on the basis of courageously breaking with anachronistic hostility and unattainable desire and recognizing each other, the two countries can open up a new future together.”

Her message definitely included some caveats. For example, she noted that “Japan has persistently raised as a precondition the abduction issue, which has already been settled, or the settlement of nuclear and missile issues, which have nothing to do with the repair of [North Korea]-Japan relations.”

Still, she held out the prospect that Kishida might “take an opportunity and change history” and that, if the opportunity is seized, “there will be no reason for the two countries not to become close and the day of the prime minister’s Pyongyang visit might come.”

It should be noted that her conditions made no mention of Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, any demand for reparations, or any criticism of Japan’s history education textbooks, or anything of the like. The basic notion is that if you mind your own business, there’s no obstacle to having good bilateral relations.

Unfortunately, at present there seems to be little prospect that the Japanese government would be “courageously breaking with anachronistic hostility and unattainable desire” anytime soon.

While it has become increasingly apparent over the years that Pyongyang did attempt to fully resolve the abductee issue during the Koizumi era and doesn’t have much else to give, many of the abductee families still refuse to accept that their loved ones are dead and gone. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in particular made this into a “sacred issue” that stirred up the emotions of the political right and created insurmountable diplomatic obstacles in bilateral relations. Tokyo keeps demanding more from Pyongyang, where there’s probably nothing that can conceivably be provided—certainly nothing that will fully satisfy grieving parents and family members.

Moreover, neither Tokyo nor Washington are likely to accept that Pyongyang’s development of its missile technology and nuclear weapons constitutes what Kim described as North Korea’s “legitimate right to self-defense.” Even if Kishida were inclined to do so, Biden administration policymakers would predictably disrupt any rapprochement on this basis.

So while it is interesting that North Korea is offering an olive branch at this time, the broader international conditions for a diplomatic settlement do not appear to be in place.

Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong

Pyongyang, February 15 (KCNA) — Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, issued the following press statement on February 15:

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida reportedly said at a recent meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives that he badly feels the need to boldly change the present situation prevailing between Japan and the DPRK. He also underlined the need to actively establish relations with the President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), adding that he is now making sustained efforts to do so through different channels.

I also take note of the fact that Japanese media commented with regard to Prime Minister Kishida’s remarks that the stand on the DPRK-Japan relations expressed by him was different from the previous one.

I think there would be no reason not to appreciate his recent speech as a positive one, if it was prompted by his real intention to boldly free himself from the past fetters and promote the DPRK-Japan relations.

It is the fact recognized by everyone that the relations between the two countries have deteriorated for decades since Japan has persistently raised as a precondition the abduction issue, which had already been settled, or the settlement of nuclear and missile issues which have nothing to do with the repair of the DPRK-Japan relations.

It is my opinion that if Japan makes a political decision to open up a new way of mending the relations through its courteous behavior and trustworthy action on the basis of courageously breaking with anachronistic hostility and unattainable desire and recognizing each other, the two countries can open up a new future together.

Only a politician, who has sagacity and strategic insight for looking far into the future, instead of sticking to the past, and the will and executive power to make a political decision, can take an opportunity and change history.

If Japan drops its bad habit of unreasonably pulling up the DPRK over its legitimate right to self-defense and does not lay such a stumbling block as the already settled abduction issue in the future way for mending the bilateral relations, there will be no reason for the two countries not to become close and the day of the prime minister’s Pyongyang visit might come.

I think our state leadership still has no idea of repairing the DPRK-Japan relations and has no interest in contact.

It is necessary to watch the ulterior intention of Prime Minister Kishida in the future.

This is just my personal view only and I am not in the position to officially comment on the relations between the DPRK and Japan.

This article was originally published on February 19, 2023, in the “Japan and the World” newsletter. Become a Shingetsu News supporter on Patreon and receive the newsletter by email each Monday morning.