北朝鮮の金与正氏、岸田首相の訪朝言及　拉致問題で譲歩迫る

　【ソウル時事】北朝鮮の金与正朝鮮労働党副部長は１５日、談話を発表し、「個人的見解」として、日本が政治的決断を下せば「岸田文雄首相が平壌を訪問する日が来る可能性もある」と述べた。ただ、拉致問題は「解決済み」という北朝鮮の従来の立場を繰り返し、日本に譲歩を迫った。朝鮮中央通信が伝えた。
　与正氏は、拉致や核・ミサイル開発の問題を議題にしなければ「両国がいくらでも新しい未来を開いていける」と主張した。岸田首相は９日の衆院予算委員会で、金正恩総書記との首脳会談の実現に向け「私自身が主体的に動き、トップ同士の関係を構築していくことが極めて重要だ」と答弁した。
　この発言について、与正氏は「過去の束縛から大胆に脱し、関係を進展させようとする真意から出たものであれば評価されない理由はない」と表明。「拉致問題を障害物としなければ両国が近くなれない訳はない」と指摘した。（2024/02/15-22:42）

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may be invited to Pyongyang if Tokyo does not make the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals a stumbling block to improved ties, according to North Korean state media.
   If Japan makes a political decision to open up a new way of mending relations with North Korea through its courteous behavior and trustworthy action, "the two countries can open up a new future together," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
   She praised recent parliamentary remarks by Kishida that he needs to act on his own to build personal relations with Kim Jong Un in an effort to hold a summit meeting with the North Korean leader.
   "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," the younger Kim said, using the abbreviation for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
   If Japan "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," she said.