Japanese Foreign Ministry Setting Up Division to Monitor North Korea Situation

TOKYO (Sputnik) - The Japanese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that its Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau's Northeast Asia Division would be partitioned into two bodies, one of which would monitor Tokyo's relations with Seoul, while another one would handle Japanese-North Korean relations, amid burgeoning diplomacy with Pyongyang.

"Because of the need for increased cooperation with South Korea in a number of areas, and due to the raised importance of making decisions on the North Korean issue, on July 1, the Northeast Asia Division, which supervised the relations with South Korea and North Korea, will be divided into the first and the second divisions. The first division will be in charge of South Korean issues, while the second division [will monitor] the situation in North Korea and relations between North Korea and Japan," the ministry said in a statement.

The diplomatic activities on the Korean Peninsula have recently intensified. In April, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a landmark summit, during which they reiterated their goal to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and bring a formal end to the Korean War in the near future.

Moreover, earlier in June, Kim held a historic summit with US President Donald Trump, during which the parties also stressed the need to denuclearize North Korea.

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also expressed his willingness to hold direct talks with Pyongyang. The Japanese side is seeking, among other things, to resolve the issue concerning Japanese nationals that were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.