Japan and the United States have taken note of remarks by the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader hinting at the possibility of a visit to Pyongyang by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, with Washington offering its blessings to the potential summit.

Kishida has repeatedly pledged to meet “unconditionally” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a call that had been met largely with silence from Pyongyang — until the late-Thursday comments of Kim Yo Jong, herself a senior official in her brother’s regime.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi on Friday acknowledged those remarks, saying Japan is “keeping in mind” what could represent a rare chance of a thaw between the East Asian neighbors as Tokyo continues behind-the-scenes talks for a possible summit.

"We are keeping in mind the fact that Kim Yo Jong has issued a statement, but I would like to refrain from giving further details, including an assessment, as it may impact future negotiations,” including on the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s, Hayashi said during a news conference.

In a statement carried by state-run media, Kim Yo Jong said a visit by Kishida could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats.

“If Japan drops its bad habit of unreasonably pulling up the DPRK over its legitimate right to self-defense and does not lay such a stumbling block as the already-settled abduction issue in the future way for mending the bilateral relations, there will be no reason for the two countries not to become close and the day of the prime minister's Pyongyang visit might come,” she said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK is the abbreviation for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Kim Yo Jong said that Kishida’s remarks in parliament last week, in which he said he was personally overseeing high-level discussions with Pyongyang, represented a “different” stance than that previously held by Tokyo.

“I think there would be no reason not to appreciate his recent speech as a positive one, if it was prompted by his real intention to boldly free himself from the past fetters and promote the DPRK-Japan relations,” she said, noting that the abductions issue “had already been settled” and that the North’s nuclear and missile programs “have nothing to do with” repairing relations.

Kishida, she said, would need to make “a political decision to open up a new way” toward mending ties, adding that the North’s “state leadership” — a reference to her all-powerful brother — “still has no idea of repairing the DPRK-Japan relations and has no interest in contact.”

“It is necessary to watch the ulterior intention of Prime Minister Kishida in the future,” she added.

But, in a sign of the challenges to realizing a Kishida-Kim summit, Hayashi, who serves concurrently as minister in charge of the abduction issue, called Kim Yo Jong's claim on the abductions issue "totally unacceptable."

"Our stance of comprehensively resolving issues (with North Korea) such as abductions, nuclear (weapons) and missiles based on the (2002) Pyongyang Declaration remains unchanged," Hayashi said, dodging a question about how the Japanese government rationalized this stance with Kishida’s pledge to meet unconditionally.

Kim Yo Jong’s unusual remarks come as bilateral relations between Tokyo and Seoul, as well as trilateral ties with the U.S., grow closer after years of animosity between Japan and South Korea. Rising concerns over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs have been widely seen as a key reason for the bolstered ties.

The U.S. has also said it is open to unconditional talks with North Korea, but that entreaty has fallen on deaf ears.

On Friday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department told The Japan Times that Washington backed Tokyo’s move to engage Pyongyang, saying: “We have been very clear about the importance of dialogue and diplomacy with the DPRK.”

Still, the U.S. explicitly noted the abductions issue, saying that “the United States stands with the long-suffering relatives of Japanese abductees, and we continue to urge the DPRK to right this historic wrong and provide a full accounting of those that remain missing.”

While the U.S. has said it supports the diplomatic push, it reportedly asked Japan to smooth over any issues in advance with South Korea, given sensitivities in Seoul, where leader Yoon Suk-yeol has taken a hard-line stance against the North’s repeated weapons tests.

In 2002, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi traveled to Pyongyang to meet with the North’s supreme leader at the time, Kim Jong Il — the father of the current leader — in the countries’ first summit. An admission by the elder Kim of the abductions helped pave the way for the repatriation to Japan of five abductees later that year.

Tokyo, however, has continued to seek the return of 12 others officially recognized as having been abducted by the North — much to the chagrin of Pyongyang, which has repeatedly claimed that the issue has already been resolved.