Japan, Malaysia Affirm Cooperation over Abduction Issue

Tokyo, May 31 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his visiting Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, affirmed Friday their countries' cooperation to denuclearize North Korea and resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang decades ago. During their meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Abe and Mahathir also agreed to strengthen bilateral relationship, with the Malaysian leader aiming to revitalize his country's Look East policy, an initiative launched by himself in the 1980s to achieve economic development by learning from the success of Japan and South Korea. In addition, the two leaders agreed to work together for realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific region and discussed the situation in the South China Sea, where China is actively building military bases. At a separate meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen the same day, Abe pledged Japan's continued support for the promotion of Cambodia's democratization process. Also on Friday, the Japanese and Cambodian governments signed documents on Japan's grant aid worth 339 million yen for a project to help young Cambodian administrative workers study in Japan and 200 million yen for an upgrade of a special economic zone in southern Cambodia. END