North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is just about at the end of his rope.

His summit with Trump in February broke down, and his attempt to woo Putin into dropping sanctions during their April summit ended in failure.

Sanctions are weighing heavily on North Korea as they suffer from famine and a shortage of funds. Kim’s visit to Russia is proof that the sanctions are taking hold.

In May, Kim launched a short-range ballistic missile as a display of power to his military in an attempt to secure his leadership position. South Korean president Moon Jae-in wanted to provide food aid to North Korea until his visit to the U.S. where Trump poured cold water on the idea and warned him not to provide any economic aid.

The Dangers of a Japan-North Korea Summit

In May, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his intention to organize “a summit with Kim, with no conditions” to resolve the abduction problem.

North Korea would find it easy to manipulate Japan during negotiations. In exchange for a few abductees North Korea could demand the promised ¥1 trillion that former leader Kim Jong-il failed to receive. Additional funds of ¥1 trillion could revive the North Korean economy, and the sanctions would lose their effect. In the hope of raising his approval rate, Abe is becoming more and more like Moon Jae-in.

China expert Gordon Chan told the Liberty Magazine about the imminent danger:

Prime Minister Abe thinks that if he talks with Kim unconditionally, then he can encourage Kim to take good actions. But China, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. all failed to make Kim act as they desired. The best North Korea policy is the hardline stance, because North Korea understands what power is.

Japan’s Much Needed Military Recourse

While Abe wants to organize an unconditional summit with Kim, Master Ryuho Okawa, founder and CEO of the Happy Science Group, has a different opinion. In his lecture “The World of Freedom, Democracy and Faith” given in May, he explained:

North Korea abducted Japanese people, so Japan should be the one asking for compensation. During the summit, Abe has to be strong enough to say, “if you can’t pay, then fully abandon your nuclear program.”

The day before Master Okawa’s lecture, the spirit of Abraham Lincoln visited Master Okawa with a message:

The Prime Minister’s responsibility should be to look at how your people were abducted from the Sea of Japan under disguise of a military exercise, and ask “Is our country okay with this?” He has to regret the fact that Japan is unable to protect its own people. This case is not the same as a domestic kidnapper. But the fact is, it looks like he is negotiating with a domestic kidnapper by using police methods.

The problem with Japan is that it has not thought of taking military action regarding the abductions. Any other country would immediately deploy military force if another country abducted its citizens.

Japan has to stop relying on the U.S. and make the effort to strengthen its defense.

The U.S. is sending aircraft carriers and bombers to the Middle East to threaten Iran. Japan should also have aircraft carriers and bombers to threaten North Korea, while taking the lead in applying maximum sanctions. Japan should be in a position to lead the U.S., South Korea and Russia in this initiative.
Negotiations on the abduction problem can only happen after Japan has assumed the military strength to match its national power.