The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is “considering” holding a summit with the North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, according to a Japanese government source, in what would be another significant step towards rapprochement in the region.
Japan would like to use the meeting to discuss the citizens abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, the source said.
He declined to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
A spokesman for the prime minister’s office made no immediate comment, but earlier Mr Abe told South Korean National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon Japan wanted any demilitarisation talks with Pyongyang to address the abductions.
The abductions have become a keystone of Mr Abe’s political career.
The Japanese Prime Minister has said he will not rest until all 13 of the people North Korea admitted to kidnapping were returned and the isolated state divulged information about the others Japan suspects were taken to train North Korean spies.
Signs of easing between the North and South began during the Winter Olympics last month, when Pyongyang sent a high-level delegation to the South for the games.
Japan taken a more cautious approach, calling for “maximum pressure” on the North and warning “talks for the sake of talks” were unacceptable.
