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North Korean Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Kim Il-guk lands at Tokyo Haneda International Airport on Nov. 27 to attend a general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees. (Reuters)
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Kim Il-guk’s Tokyo visit seen as sign of Abe’s willingness to negotiate with Pyongyang
North Korean Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Kim Il-guk arrived in Japan on Nov. 27 to attend a general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). While Japan has imposed an entry ban on North Korean nationals as part of its independent sanctions against North Korea, it granted an exception for Kim’s arrival. According to the Kyodo news agency, Kim arrived by way of Tokyo Haneda International Airport that afternoon. He did not respond to questions from reporters waiting at the airport’s arrival hall. Taking place on Nov. 28–29 in Tokyo, the ANOC general assembly is to be attended by 1,300 officials from the Olympic committee around the world, including IOC president Thomas Bach. Kim also serves as president of the North Korean Olympic Committee. In a press conference earlier that morning, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga explained, “Discrimination according to nationality is prohibited in the international sports community.” “[Kim’s] entry was allowed as an exception,” he said. The Olympic Charter includes terms barring discrimination based on nationality. Analysts also suggested Japan allowed Kim’s arrival as an entry point for achieving dialogue with Pyongyang. Noting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is working to organize talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to address the issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea, Kyodo interpreted the approval of Kim’s arrival as signaling his intent to share his hopes for North Korea-Japan dialogue. Prior to a North Korea-US summit in Singapore last June, Abe insisted that “dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless.” Since the summit, however, he has shown a strong desire to hold his own summit with North Korea, declaring his plans to “break the shell of mutual distrust and sit down face-to-face with Chairman Kim Jong-un.” While asked whether there were plans for Kim Il-guk to meet with chief Japanese government officials, Suga answered, “There are no plans for that.” But the possibility of Kim discussing issues in North Korea-Japan relations with Japanese government officials cannot be ruled out. By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
