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. 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. 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. 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. "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. 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."
A Japanese man is taken into custody in North Korea with Tokyo trying to gather information about the case.