N. Korea Backpedals On Idea Of Summit With Japan, Says Will Reject Any Contact

North Korea's Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of the isolated country's leader Kim Jong-un, declared that Pyongyang will refuse all contact with Japan after Tokyo raised the contentious issues of Japanese abductees and North Korea's nuclear programme.

• The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim Yo-jong as saying that Japan has "no courage" to make any goodwill gestures and hence "the DPRK-Japan summit is not a matter of concern to the DPRK."
• This comes after Kim Yo-jong revealed that Japan was seeking PM Fumio Kishida's summit he brother "as soon as possible," while the Japanese Foreign Ministry responded by listing some key sticking points.
• North Korea's strategy appears to involve attempts to divide the US-led coalition in East Asia by leveraging PM Kishida's weakened position at home, as well as politically sensitive election campaign periods in the US and South Korea.
• However, Bloomberg cited Park Won-gon from South Korea's Ewha Womans University as noting that "it was difficult to find a middle ground for [North Korea and Japan] from the beginning," which is a prerequisite for any serious talks.