Japan to pressure N.Korea to resolve abduction
Japan's top government spokesperson has strongly criticized North Korea's decision to halt its investigation into the fate of abducted Japanese nationals.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga spoke to reporters on Monday, 3 days after North Korea said it stopped its probe into abductees and other missing Japanese.
Suga called North Korea's decision extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable.
He said Japan has filed a strong protest with North Korea and demanded that it return all abductees to Japan as soon as possible based on a bilateral agreement reached in Stockholm in 2014.
The agreement calls on North Korea to start a fresh investigation into the whereabouts of the missing Japanese.
Suga said the abduction issue is extremely important to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration. He said the government will pressure North Korea to resolve it based on the principles of "dialogue and pressure" and "action for action."