LOC11:36
08:36 GMT
TOKYO, March 28 (KUNA) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo said on Wednesday that Tokyo is closely watching development following a surprise summit between the leaders of North Korea and China earlier this week.
"The government is gathering and analyzing information on the summit with great interest," Abe told a parliamentary committee. "I hope to receive a detailed explanation from China," the premier said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first summit in Beijing during an official visit by Kim to China from Sunday to Wednesday, the two countries' official media reported Wednesday.
In their talks, Kim said Pyongyang is committed to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and that it is willing to have dialogue with the US and hold a summit of the two countries, according to China's Xinhua News Agency.
Kim's surprise visit to Beijing, his first foreign trip since becoming North Korea's supreme leader late 2011, came ahead of his planned summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump in April and May, respectively.
Abe also stressed the importance of North Korea giving up its nuclear and missile programs.
"What is important is not dialogue for the sake of dialogue, but to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missiles in a completely verifiable and irreversible manner," he said, adding that sanctions on North Korea should be kept in place until it takes concrete steps toward that end. (end)
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