Jin Matsubara, newly appointed minister in charge of the North Korean abduction issue, hopes to take advantage of the helm change in Pyongyang to resolve the dispute, which has raged for decades.
The government officially lists 17 Japanese as being abducted, including five who were repatriated in 2002.
Negotiations between Tokyo and Pyongyang have been in a deadlock since, and the North's position under leader Kim Jong Il was that the matter was resolved and no abductees remain alive. But with his death last month and his son, Kim Jong Un, inheriting the regime, Matsubara hopes to see positive change.