The Abe administration will thoroughly examine whether a new unit set up by North Korea to probe outstanding abduction issues has direct links with leader Kim Jong Un, and therefore possesses the kind of robust authority needed to investigate any organization within the secretive Stalinist state, government officials said Tuesday.
The officials stressed it is imperative that the unit, which North Korea calls a "special investigation committee," includes members, for example, of the Ministry of State Security — a secret police organ directly linked to Kim.
During a meeting Tuesday in Beijing, Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador for talks to normalize relations with Japan, informed Junichi Ihara, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, of the organization and composition of the committee, as well as who is in charge.