Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed Sunday to "step up efforts to realize an early summit meeting" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Japanese news agency Kyodo News reported Kishida telling a citizens gathering in Tokyo that the Japanese government is "making approaches through various channels" to resolve the decades-long issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, expressing intentions to change the status quo and to establish constructive relations with North Korea.

Japan asserts that 17 of its nationals have been abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and the 1980s, five of whom were brought back to Japan in 2002.

Source: Qatar News Agency