Japan & N. Korea Held Secret Talks In Mongolia Last Month

South Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily reports that Japanese and North Korean delegations held a secret meeting near the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar around mid-May, despite the failure of earlier overtures to bring any breakthrough in bilateral relations.

• The meeting was subsequently acknowledged by Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, but he refused to offer further details, albeit he did admit that Tokyo continues to seek high-level talks including a potential leaders' summit.
• Previous attempts to launch Japanese-N. Korean talks failed because Pyongyang refuses to engage in dialogue as long as Tokyo keeps raising the issue of Japanese abductees in North Korea.
• Talks with N. Korea represent a twofold opportunity for the Japan. They might allow Tokyo to exert some independent influence on the isolated country, while also allowing embattled PM Kishida to score a diplomatic victory and repair his reputation.
• The report demonstrates that there are still attempts on the part of Japan and its allies to engage with North Korea, despite Pyongyang's increasingly assertive foreign policy posturing and its tightening relations with Russia.