The Japanese government has stated that it will make every effort to secure the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno of Japan. AP=Yonhap News. 

Hirokazu Matsuno, Chief Cabinet Secretary and spokesperson for the Japanese government, stated this at a regular press conference on the 4th, regarding the channel through which Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi conveyed her desire to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "Given the nature of the matter, we will refrain from answering detailed questions," he said.

He added, "We will use all means to achieve the earliest possible return of the abductees."

The previous day, Prime Minister Takaichi stated at a national rally in Tokyo that she would "open a breakthrough" to realize the early return of Japanese abduction victims and that "the desire for a summit with the North has already been conveyed."

The Japanese government believes that 17 Japanese citizens were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, and that 12 of them remain in North Korea, excluding the 5 who returned temporarily after then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang in 2002.

However, North Korea insists that there are no outstanding issues, claiming that 8 of the 12 have died and 4 never came.

Amidst this, the Japanese government has consistently presented the resolution of the abduction issue as a priority task with each change of administration, but no North Korea-Japan summit has been held since then-Prime Minister Koizumi's second visit to Pyongyang in 2004. (Reporting assistance: Kim Ji-soo, Correspondent)

Yonhap News