Shinzo Abe in US to remind Trump’s not to forget Japan at summit

■ Japanese Premier has 2 hours to present case to Trump

Tokyo, June 6: Japan- ese Prime Minister Shin- zo Abe, unable to meet North Korea’s leader himself, is heading to Washington to try to make sure President Donald Trump doesn’t overlook Japan’s security and other concerns at the unprecedented USNorth Korea summit next week.

Abe will have less than two hours to make his points to Trump at the White House on Thursday, before both go to Canada for a G- 7 summit on Friday and Saturday, and the American president then flies to Singapore for his June 12 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Japan, which relied on the US for its post- World War II diplomacy and security, has been absent in the recent burst of engagement with North Korea. Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae- in have both met Kim twice, as Abe waits his turn to raise Japan’s concerns directly.

“I want to make sure to be on the same page with President Trump ahead of the first ever USNorth Korea summit so we can push forward nuclear and missile issues, and most importantly the abduction problem, and make for a successful summit,” Abe told reporters before leaving for the airport.

Abe doesn’t want Trump to strike a compromise that would leave Japan exposed to shorterrange missiles that do not threaten the US mainland or that relieves pressure on North Korea before it takes concrete steps toward complete denuclearisation. He is expected to ask Trump once again to raise with Kim the fate of Japanese abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It wouldn’t be my style to have to ask the US for ■ help on the abduction issue,” said Hitoshi Tanaka, a former diplomat and head of a think tank, the Institute for International Strategy.

Japan hopes to hold talks with North Korea after a successful TrumpKim summit. Abe has said he is open to meeting with Kim, but only if it resolves the abduction issue. He said Japan will then normalise ties and give economic aid. Singapore, June 6: Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan will embark on a two- day visit to Pyongyang from Thursday, ahead of the June 12 summit here between US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.

Balakrishnan will visit Pyongyang at the invitation of his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho, Singapore’s ministry of foreign affairs announced on Wednesday in a statement.

Mr Balakrishnan will also call on North Korea’s ceremonial president Kim Yong Nam during his visit to the country, it said.

He is not the first Singaporean leader to visit North Korea. In 2008, George Yeo, then minister for foreign affairs, made a five- day official visit to North Korea.

Singapore is hosting the landmark meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jung Un on June 12.

Preparations are underway in Singapore for the first summit between the top leaders of United States and North Korea.