Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling on North Korea to match its recent rhetoric about giving up its nuclear weapons program with "concrete actions."
Abe made the call Tuesday during a meeting in Tokyo with Suh Hoon, the head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service. Suh Hoon and Chung Eui-yong, the head of Seoul's National Security Office, led a delegation from South Korea to the North last week for talks with leader Kim Jong Un.
A South Korean soldier walks past a television screen showing pictures of US President Donald Trump (L) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a railway station in Seoul on March 9, 2018.
The Japanese prime minister also made clear that he wants to resolve the issue of North Korea's abduction of several Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s to train North Korea spies.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump have agreed to hold separate bilateral summits with Kim Jong Un to discuss ending his regime's nuclear weapons program, after he pledged to suspend the North's missile testing program. President Moon will meet with Kim in April, while President Trump will meet with the North Korean leader by the end of May.