Members of a U.N. commission investigating human rights violations in North Korea met with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday in the first of a series of meetings that Tokyo hopes will highlight the unresolved cases of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang.
During the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, Kishida briefed three members of the Commission of Inquiry, which was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in March, about Japan's efforts to resolve the cases that date back to the 1970s and 1980s.
"The abduction victims include not just Japanese but also South Koreans and those from numerous other countries. We therefore think it is a matter of grave concern for the international community," Kishida said at the start of the meeting.