Seeing no tangible progress in the new abduction probe North Korea launched half a year ago, Tokyo will continue pushing Pyongyang to report its findings as soon as possible, according to government officials.

"At present, no concrete notification is taking place. We by all means intend to continue requesting the North Korean side to carry out the investigation rapidly and report the findings promptly and honestly," Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Dec. 26 in his last news conference for 2014.

On July 4, North Korea launched a "reinvestigation" into 12 Japanese officially recognized by Tokyo as abductees and still missing, in return for the lifting of some of Japan's unilateral sanctions on Pyongyang — a deal the two governments struck in May during talks in Stockholm.