Saturday marked the first anniversary of the death of Shigeru Yokota, a torchbearer of Japan's campaign to bring home citizens abducted by North Korea after his teenage daughter, Megumi, was taken in 1977.

Since his death, Japan has seen little progress in efforts to resolve the abduction cases, though Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reiterated the issue remains a top priority for his administration, as it was for his predecessor, Shinzo Abe.

Suga, like Abe, has urged North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to meet "without preconditions." But there has been no breakthrough in the abduction issue and broader bilateral relations.