Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has conveyed his intention to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang said on Monday.
In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the North Korean leader's powerful sister Kim Yo Jong said that opening a new chapter in the relationship between North Korea and Japan would depend on Tokyo's "political decision."
Kishida said in parliament on Monday that his government has lobbied for a "possible" meeting with the North Korean leader, Tokyo-based Kyodo News Agency reported.
He stressed the importance of talks to secure the return of Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by Pyongyang in the past.
Kim Yo Jong said in February that Kishida's visit to Pyongyang is possible if Tokyo does not make the issue of the past abductions of Japanese nationals an obstacle between the two countries.
In 2002, North Korea admitted that it had sent agents to abduct 13 Japanese people in the 1970s and 1980s, pressing them into service training its spies in Japanese language and customs.
Ever since, it has remained an emotional issue in Japan.
Japan's former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a landmark visit to Pyongyang in 2002 and met Kim's father Kim Jong-il.
His visit led to the return of five Japanese nationals and a follow-up trip by Koizumi, but the diplomacy soon broke down, following Tokyo's claim that Pyongyang was not coming clean about the abduction victims.
