{"id":17981,"date":"2012-01-10T16:59:45","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T07:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.dailynk.com\/en\/?p=17981"},"modified":"2020-01-17T08:54:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T23:54:10","slug":"north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/","title":{"rendered":"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea and Japan made secretive contact for the first time since the death of Kim Jong Il on the 9th, according to someone in the Japanese prime minister\u2019s office cited by Japanese news agency Kyodo today.<\/p>\n<p>Experienced political figures Hiroshi Nakai, former head of Japanese efforts on the abductees issue, and Song Il Ho for the North Korean side reportedly met in eastern China and discussed the abductees issue.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting was apparently scheduled to last two days but could be extended, the source suggested. Prior to Monday\u2019s talks, dialogue between the two governments had been in a slump since August, 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea and Japan made secretive contact for the first time since the death of Kim Jong Il on the 9th, according to someone in the Japanese prime minister\u2019s office cited by Japanese news agency Kyodo today. Experienced political figures Hiroshi Nakai, former head of Japanese efforts on the abductees issue, and Song Il Ho [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":17983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>North Speaking in Whispers to Japan - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Korea and Japan made secretive contact for the first time since the death of Kim Jong Il on the 9th, according to someone in the Japanese prime minister\u2019s office cited by Japanese news agency Kyodo today. Experienced political figures Hiroshi Nakai, former head of Japanese efforts on the abductees issue, and Song Il Ho [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-10T07:59:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-16T23:54:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/01\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"95\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Park Seong Guk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Park Seong Guk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Park Seong Guk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9eb9ff981382f442b3b51049ac1300fb\"},\"headline\":\"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-10T07:59:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:54:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":110,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-10T07:59:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:54:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg\",\"width\":120,\"height\":95},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9eb9ff981382f442b3b51049ac1300fb\",\"name\":\"Park Seong Guk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"caption\":\"Park Seong Guk\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/park-seong-guk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan","og_description":"North Korea and Japan made secretive contact for the first time since the death of Kim Jong Il on the 9th, according to someone in the Japanese prime minister\u2019s office cited by Japanese news agency Kyodo today. Experienced political figures Hiroshi Nakai, former head of Japanese efforts on the abductees issue, and Song Il Ho [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2012-01-10T07:59:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-16T23:54:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":120,"height":95,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/01\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Park Seong Guk","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Park Seong Guk","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/"},"author":{"name":"Park Seong Guk","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/9eb9ff981382f442b3b51049ac1300fb"},"headline":"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan","datePublished":"2012-01-10T07:59:45+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:54:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/"},"wordCount":110,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/01\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/","name":"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/01\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg","datePublished":"2012-01-10T07:59:45+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:54:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/01\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/01\/DNKF00008666_List.jpg","width":120,"height":95},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-speaking-in-whispers-to-japa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"North Speaking in Whispers to Japan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/9eb9ff981382f442b3b51049ac1300fb","name":"Park Seong Guk","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","caption":"Park Seong Guk"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/park-seong-guk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17982,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17981\/revisions\/17982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}