Japan PM Kishida says willing to meet Kim Jong Un over kidnappings

FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a bilateral meeting with Laos' President Thongloun Sisoulith, at the prime ministers' office in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, May 25, 2023. Shuji Kajiyama/Pool via REUTERS

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday he was willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try and resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted in the 1960s and 1970s, media reported.

"I am determined to face Kim Jong Un directly myself, without any preconditions," Kishida said at a gathering on the issue in Tokyo, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said. The Nikkei and Kyodo news agency carried similar reports.

FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 1, 2023 in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS

Pyongyang admitted in 2002 to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens decades before. Five abductees and their families later returned to Japan, saying the others had died.

However, Tokyo believes 17 Japanese were abducted, and continues to investigate the fate of those who didn't return, according to local media.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Kim Coghill)