Japan has requested a set of additional preconditions for U.S. President Donald Trump to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, including a promise from Pyongyang to resolve the abduction issue and to abandon midrange ballistic missiles capable of hitting Japan, diplomatic sources said Saturday.
Foreign Minister Taro Kono made the request in separate talks in Washington earlier this month with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Trump's nominee for next secretary of state, and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, the sources said.
Kono also asked the U.S. officials to ensure that before Trump meets Kim in May for an unprecedented U.S.-North Korea summit, Pyongyang will promise to promote a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, accept International Atomic Energy Agency inspections and abolish chemical weapons, they said.