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US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meet in Washington, DC, on Apr. 26. (AFP/Yonhap News)
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Trump and Abe meet in Washington while Putin and Xi meet in Beijing
As negotiations between North Korea and the US remain deadlocked, the leaders of China and Russia and the US and Japan vowed to strengthen their cooperation in separate meetings over the weekend. The big question is whether the steps by these four powers will serve to facilitate the North Korea-US negotiations or whether they will widen the gap between China and Russia on the one hand and the US and Japan on the other. On Apr. 26, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reconfirmed that they will cooperate closely on the North Korea nuclear issue. During a meeting with reporters following their meeting, Abe said that he and Trump had reviewed the process of the denuclearization talks and exchanged opinions about how to proceed moving forward. Abe also said that Japan wants to play an active role in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. His next meeting, Abe said, would be with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, during which he intends to tackle the issue of Japanese abducted by the North. Reuters quoted US Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty as saying that the two leaders had discussed sanctions on North Korea and a joint resolution about maintaining them. “We’ll also be talking about [. . .] North Korea, where we’re working together very closely with others. And I think it’s going pretty well,” Trump said in his remarks prior to the meeting. The two leaders are likely to remain in close contact in the future. Trump will be making a state visit to Japan on May 25-28 and will also be attending the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28-29. It’s rare for the US and Japan to hold summits for three months in a row, and that could give Abe more of a say in the North Korea-US negotiations. Abe and his wife also attended the birthday party of first lady Melania Trump on Apr. 26. Trump emphasized his relationship with Abe by remarking that there was no one that Melania wanted to spend her birthday with as much as the Abes. Trump and Abe also played golf together on Apr. 27. But Trump pressured Abe on economic issues. Trump devoted most of his remarks prior to the meeting to trade negotiations, commenting that “Japan puts very massive tariffs on [. . .] our agriculture. [. . .] And we want to get rid of those tariffs.” When Trump said that the US doesn’t tariff Japanese automobiles, Abe corrected him, explaining that there is in fact a 2.5% tariff. Trump also called for an early settlement in the Japan-US trade talks, which he said might even wrap up by the end of May. On top of that, Trump said that Japanese automakers ought to build more production facilities in the US. Putin calls for normalization of NK-US relations In related news, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting China, held a press conference in Beijing on Apr. 27. Putin told reporters that he had explained the results of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping the previous day and that the two leaders had also exchanged their opinions about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. “Russia and China have a joint roadmap for resolving the situation on the Korean Peninsula. The first part of that [halting provocative behavior] has been implemented overall, and now we need to move forward with the second part. The second stage is normalizing relationships between the parties in the dispute,” Putin said. A comparison of the two summits this past weekend shows that the US and Japan stressed maintaining pressure on North Korea while China and Russia asked the US to take a flexible approach. “I appreciated President Putin’s statement yesterday,” Trump said in regard to the North Korea-Russia summit on Apr. 25. “I appreciate that Russia and China [are] helping us. [. . . China doesn’t] need nuclear weapons right next to their country.” Trump’s remarks also appear intended to prevent North Korea from treating China and Russia as its sponsors. Hagerty, the US ambassador to Japan, said during a lecture in Washington, DC, that Kim meeting Putin shows that the sanctions are putting tremendous pressure on the North Korean regime. By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent, and Jung In-hwan, Beijing correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
