In 2002, Kim Jong Il, the late father of Kim Jong Un, told then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 80s, and allowed five of them to return to Japan. Japan thinks hundreds more may have been abducted during that period and that some are still alive.
Asked about the media reports on Kim Yo Jong's comment, Japanese PM Kishida reiterated the importance of a summit meeting to resolve bilateral issues such as the matter of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents decades ago.
The meeting follows reports that Zuckerberg would visit South Korea at the end of this month to discuss AI with Samsung Electronics chairman, Jay Y. Lee, and possibly meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran revealed that the US initially persuaded India to form the Quad but later asked then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to encourage Japan on the diplomatic alliance.
PM Modi wrote he is deeply anguished and concerned to learn about the Japan earthquake and assured Kishida that New Delhi was ready to extend all possible help.