Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will urge U.S. President Donald Trump to dismiss Pyongyang's assertion that the issue of Japanese nationals abducted decades ago has been resolved when he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, government sources said Monday.
Abe will meet with Trump in Washington on Thursday, before the U.S. leader's unprecedented meeting with the North Korean leader scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
The prime minister is also planning to ask Trump to convey to Kim that Japan would consider negotiating on the normalization of ties and the extension of economic cooperation based on a 2002 bilateral declaration if progress is made on the long-standing abduction issue, according to the sources.