Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reportedly expressed  hope for high-level consultation between Japan and North Korea to hold a bilateral summit at an early date.

According to Japan's Kyodo News on Saturday, Kishida made the remarks on Saturday in Tokyo at an event organized by relatives of Japanese abductees in North Korea.

Kishida reaffirmed that he is ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without any preconditions to resolve the issue of Japanese abductees in the North.

Kishida reportedly said that it was extremely regrettable that none of the abductees have returned to Japan since 2002, pledging his all-out efforts to realize the return of the abductees as soon as possible.