Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said that he would take discussion with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un into consideration, in efforts to settle a dispute concerning Pyongyang's kidnapping Japanese officials in the 1970s and 80s.
According to the BBC, Abe said he was open to the option of negotiating with Jong, as reporters prompted him to speak on revisiting the issue with the North Korean ruler.
He said that a meeting with Jong would be contingent upon the Korean leader's acceptance of Japan's ground rules, which included freeing the abducted and turning the kidnappers over to Tokyo.
"If a summit meeting is deemed as an important means in considering ways to resolve the abduction issue, we must take it into consideration as a matter of course in negotiating with them," he said in parliament, Wednesday. "Our fundamental objective is to resolve the abduction issue, including the return of all abductees, revelation of the truth and the handover of the perpetrator to Japan."
Since the time of the kidnappings, Pyongyang has admitted to nabbing a handful of Japanese nationalists to train spies.
At the present time, the two nations have no diplomatic relations. Their relationship has hung in the balance for a number of reasons, including the kidnappings that occurred more than 30 years ago.
Abe spoke one day after Japan's special envoy Isao Iijima landed in North Korea. He did not comment on Iijima's purpose for visiting the country.
According to Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, political correspondent based in Tokyo for the BBC, Mr. Iijima's trip to North Korea is important because he is close with the prime minister.
He is also a venerable negotiator, having wrangled two trips to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004, where he secured the release of five Japanese detainees.
North Korean officials insist that the victims are now dead, but Japan does not believe them, and are after more information.
