Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced today that Japan has already conveyed to North Korea its desire for a summit with leader Kim Jong Un to resolve the decades-old issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the North Koreans, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported, quoted by BTA.
Takaichi, who took office on October 21 as Japan's first female prime minister, said she wanted to talk frankly with Kim and "achieve concrete results" at a meeting in Tokyo on the issue of the abductions of Japanese people.
"I will do everything in my power during my term to achieve a breakthrough and resolve the issue," the prime minister added.
Last week, Takaichi and US President Donald Trump met with family members of the abducted Japanese people during his visit to Japan. Trump then stressed his commitment to resolving the issue.
The Japanese government has officially registered 17 people as abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s for the purpose of teaching North Korean spies and their relatives Japanese language and culture. Japan suspects Pyongyang of involvement in many other disappearances.
Five of them were repatriated in October 2002 after historic talks between then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the North Korean capital, but there has been no tangible progress since.
North Korea, with which Japan has no diplomatic relations, claims the abduction issue has been resolved.