Japanese and North Korean officials made informal contact while attending an international conference in Ulaanbaatar, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.
Following this week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Japanese government is looking to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Kim to break the deadlock over the abduction issue.
Fumio Shimizu, deputy director general at the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, conveyed to the North Korean side Japan's position on the abduction issue during the exchange on the sidelines of the two-day gathering through Friday, the official said.