The families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago met with senior U.S. government officials, asking them for help getting the victims home as soon as possible.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vows to "step up efforts to realize an early summit meeting" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and resolve the decades-long issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang.
Japan engaged in several informal contacts with North Korea this spring, sources close to the matter say, apparently to seek a breakthrough in a longstanding impasse surrounding the abduction of Japanese nationals in the past.