A Japanese man has recently been taken into custody in North Korea, government officials said Saturday as Tokyo tried to obtain information on the case.

According to informed sources, the man, in his 30s, was visiting the communist regime on a package tour organized by a foreign tourist agency. He was in Nampo, a port town in the western part of the country, the source said.

Japanese officials are concerned his detention could affect negotiations on the long-running abduction issue, which concerns Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1970s and 80s. Five were returned several years ago after talks held under the administration of Junichiro Koizumi.

“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” an official said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the wake of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, but there are no signs of progress yet.

A Foreign Ministry official declined to provide specifics on the case, such as the purpose of the man’s visit, saying only that the ministry is in the process of confirming the details.

Tokyo has reportedly called on Pyongyang to release the man through diplomatic channels, including the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, the sources said. The ministry has asked Japanese to refrain from traveling to North Korea as part of its economic sanctions on the country.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho did not respond to questions on the matter when he arrived at Beijing international airport Saturday following a trip to Singapore and Iran.

In 1999 a Japanese newspaper reporter working in North Korea was taken into custody on spy charges and detained for about two years.

Sources familiar with bilateral relations said last month that North Korea has established a team to negotiate with Japan, which itself is seeking direct talks to settle various issues. The team was apparently established sometime between April and the historic U.S.-North Korea summit on June 12, reflecting a move by Pyongyang to explore dialogue with Tokyo amid the rapidly changing geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea judged earlier this year that mending ties with Japan would become a future task if it moves to improve ties with the United States, South Korea and China, the sources said.

At a plenary meeting in April of the central committee of North Korea’s ruling party, the policy of pursuing active dialogue with surrounding countries was adopted, they added.

Tokyo has long sought answers about the abduction issue. Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects the North’s involvement in many more disappearances.

But no substantial progress has been made despite exchanges via the team, the sources said, and prospects for making progress are clouded by the murky outlook of the denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea.</s>TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man has recently been detained in North Korea, a potential diplomatic dilemma as Tokyo pushes to hold a summit with Pyongyang, local media reported on Saturday (Aug 11).

It was not immediately clear when or why the unidentified man was held but he may be charged with spying, the Asahi Shimbun reported, quoting government sources.

"Securing the man's safety is the top priority but it is possible the North Korean side might make use of the case as a bargaining chip for its negotiations with Japan," a source close the Japanese government told the paper.

Further details, such as the purpose of the man's visit to North Korea, were not immediately available.

A foreign ministry official declined to confirm the news reports "due to the nature of such a case".

"But the government is taking action and gathering information," the official told AFP.

Tokyo has advised Japanese citizens against travel to North Korea as part of its economic sanctions on the country.

North Korea has a long history of arresting foreigners on spying charges and then using them as diplomatic pawns.

In 1999, a Japanese newspaper reporter in North Korea was detained for about two years on spying charges, Kyodo News reported.

Japan has largely maintained a hard line on Pyongyang - which fired multiple test missiles towards Japanese territory - and has long pushed for movement on citizens who were abducted decades ago by North Korean agents.

But reports suggest Tokyo is considering a summit soon between Kim and Abe in the wake of South Korea and Washington's recent diplomatic detente with Pyongyang. Japanese media have floated a possible meeting on the sidelines of an international forum in Russia's Vladivostok next month.

"Ultimately, I myself will have to directly face chairman Kim Jong Un and engage in dialogue and resolve the nuclear, missile and, above all, the all-important abduction issue, and then build new Japan-North Korea relations," Abe said Monday.

During historic talks with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, Kim reportedly said he was open to a meeting with Abe.</s>TOKYO — Japan says it is looking into reports that a Japanese citizen was taken into custody this month in North Korea.

The Asahi newspaper reported Saturday the man faces possible spying allegations. The NTV broadcaster said the man is a 39-year-old self-claimed "video creator" who was on a group tour in the North and was supposed to return to Japan on Aug. 13 but has lost contact recently.

NTV said he might have been seized while trying to film a military facility in North Korea's northwestern region.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it is looking into the case following the report. It declined to give further details.

Japan is still trying to secure the release of Japanese abducted to North Korea decades ago, a major dispute between the two countries.</s>TOKYO (AP) - Japan’s government said Saturday that it is looking into reports that a Japanese citizen was detained this month in North Korea.

A report from the broadcaster NTV said the man is a 39-year-old self-claimed “video creator” who was on a group tour in the North and was supposed to return to Japan on Aug. 13. The report said he might have been seized while trying to film a military facility in North Korea’s northwestern region.

The man, who is not identified by name, has visited North Korea several times in the past and was arrested in Nampo city, according to TBS television.

The Asahi newspaper reported that the man faces possible spying allegations.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it is looking into the case following the reports. It declined to give further details.

Japan is still trying to secure the release of Japanese abducted to North Korea decades ago, a major dispute between the two countries that have no diplomatic relations.

Japan says North Korea abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train agents in Japanese culture and language to spy on South Korea.

After decades of denial, North Korea in 2002 acknowledged abducting 13 of them and allowed five to visit Japan, where they stayed. The North says eight others died, but Japanese officials and their families demand their release, saying what North Korea says cannot be trusted.

Amid North Korea’s increased diplomatic engagement and dialogue with Japan’s other neighbors and the U.S., Japan was seen as out of the loop and was hoping to set up a summit on the sidelines of international conferences later this year. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed hopes to hold talks with the North’s leader Kim Jong Un but only when that would lead to a settlement of the abduction issue.</s>TOKYO – A Japanese man has been detained in North Korea, and government officials are trying to gather information on his safety, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Saturday.

The report, citing government sources, said that details of the middle-aged man’s detainment were unclear, and that he may be suspected of spying.

It quoted one of the sources as saying that North Korea could use him as a bargaining chip in any future diplomatic talks.

Japan, in addition to demanding that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs, has also sought the return of abductees kidnapped during the 1970s and 1980s.

It has said it will not provide any economic aid to Pyongyang until the issue is resolved and normal diplomatic relations have been established.</s>North Korea has detained a Japanese tourist visiting the country, possibly on spying charges, Japanese media reported Saturday, complicating efforts to seek rapprochement between the two countries.

President Trump has said Japan is among the Asian countries he expects to provide economic aid to North Korea should it give up its nuclear weapons. But Japan is also determined to resolve the issue of its citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now, there is another man to worry about.

The Kyodo news agency reported that the man, in his 30s, was detained in the western port town of Nampo while on a group tour organized by a foreign agency.

Broadcaster NTV said the man describes himself as a “video creator” and might have been seized while trying to film a military facility in North Korea’s northwestern region.

TBS Television said he had visited North Korea several times in the past, and the Kyodo news agency and the Asahi newspaper said he could face spying allegations, citing official sources.



 In this June 14 photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, bows to Shigeo Iizuka, second from right, leader of a group of families of Japanese abducted by North Korea, and Sakie Yokota, third from right, mother of Megumi Yokota, one of the Japanese abductees, and other members during a meeting at his official residence in Tokyo. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AP)

“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” a government official told Kyodo.

Japan has found itself somewhat on the sidelines since Trump met North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been hoping to arrange his own summit with Kim.

But the abduction issue is a sensitive one in Japan and one that Abe has championed in the past, putting pressure on him to make progress if there was a summit. No date for him to meet Kim has yet been set.

Japan says at least 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents from beaches and coastal areas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some to teach spies about Japanese language and culture, or simply to obtain their identities.

After decades of denial, North Korea finally admitted in 2002 to having kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens, allowing five to return home and claiming the other eight were dead. It now says the case is closed, something Japan and relatives of the disappeared do not accept.

North Korea has not taken steps to denuclearize, John Bolton says

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news</s>North Korea has detained a Japanese tourist visiting the country, possibly on spying charges, Japanese media reported Saturday, complicating efforts to seek rapprochement between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump has said Japan is among the Asian countries he expects to provide economic aid to North Korea should it give up its nuclear weapons.

But Japan is also determined to resolve the issue of its citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now, there is another man to worry about.

The Kyodo news agency reported that the man, in his 30s, was detained in the western port town of Nampo while on a group tour organised by a foreign agency.

Broadcaster NTV said the man describes himself as a “video creator” and might have been seized while trying to film a military facility in North Korea’s northwestern region.

TBS Television said he had visited North Korea several times in the past, and the Kyodo news agency and the newspaper said he could face spying allegations, citing official sources.

“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” a government official told Kyodo.

Japan has found itself somewhat on the sidelines since Trump met North Korea leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been hoping to arrange his own summit with Kim.

Japan, land of the (red hot and) rising sun

But the abduction issue is a sensitive one in Japan and one that Abe has championed in the past, putting pressure on him to make progress if there was a summit. No date for him to meet Kim has yet been set.

Japan says at least 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents from beaches and coastal areas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some to teach spies about Japanese language and culture, or simply to obtain their identities.

After decades of denial, North Korea finally admitted in 2002 to having kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens, allowing five to return home and claiming the other eight were dead. It now says the case is closed, something Japan and relatives of the disappeared do not accept.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho would not respond to reporters’ questions about the matter when he arrived at Beijing international airport Saturday following a trip to Singapore and Iran.</s>UNITED NATIONS: North Korea on Friday accused UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of making "reckless remarks" and toeing the US line when he called for verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Guterres made the statement following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Wednesday to discuss the US-led effort to rid North Korea of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The UN chief "should do what is beneficial to the current situation on Korean peninsula for peace and stability, not just by singing (the) chorus for sanctions to please (a) certain country," said a statement from the North Korean mission to the United Nations.

The mission described as "reckless" a remark from Guterres who said that North Korea "can be a normal member of the international community in this region through total denuclearization that is verifiable, irreversible."

The statement said North Korea was "astonished" to hear Guterres' remarks "at a time when the world supports and welcomes the historic DPRK-US summit and the joint statement in Singapore."

At the first-ever meeting between sitting leaders of the US and North Korea in June, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un pledged in a joint statement to work toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The statement however was short on details and a UN panel of experts reported last week that North Korea is pressing ahead with its nuclear and missile programmes.

The United States, backed by Japan, is urging UN member-states to maintain pressure on North Korea to give up its military programmes by fully adhering to a raft of sanctions.

Trump's administration has argued that sanctions must remain fully in place until North Korea has scrapped its nuclear and missile programmes and that the dismantling is verified.

The Security Council last year adopted three rounds of tough economic sanctions on North Korea, banning most of its exports of raw commodities and severely restricting oil supplies.</s>A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Dunn man, Harnett County Sheriff's Office said.On Friday at 3:55 p.m. deputies found Rodney Wells, 47, outside 63 Jarvis Lane. He was apparently shot.Wells was deceased at the scene.A vehicle of interest was found Saturday morning and Deldrid Maurice Hines, 39, of Erwin, was taken into custody.</s>This undated picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 8, 2018, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the Kumsanpho Fish Pickling Factory in North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ditched his trademark Mao-style suit for gray slacks, a white T-shirt-like undershirt and a wide-brimmed straw hat — a rare sartorial move into casual dress that could reflect the record-high temperatures that have descended on parts of Asia since July, as well as Kim's growing confidence and optimism following his agreement with President Donald Trump to pursue denuclearization for the Korean Peninsula.

North Korean state media released new photographs this week of Kim in his summery clothes as he inspected a fish-pickling factory alongside his wife Ri Sol-ju. In the photos, Kim is accompanied by an entourage of officials in full, tightly buttoned up military uniforms while North Korea's first lady is seen carrying her husband's jacket on her arm. Temperatures in North Korea have been stuck above 100 degrees for weeks.

"Kim is trying to make himself a more familiar and accessible leader to the North Korean people," Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University and an authority on the North Korean leadership, told British newspaper The Telegraph.

"A few months ago, he was touring military sites in formal clothing to demonstrate his power and dignity; things have changed now because he has promised to build the nation’s economy and improve the people’s standards of living."
A Japanese man is taken into custody in North Korea with Tokyo trying to gather information about the case.