Photo/Illutration Visiting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, second from left, examine a rocket assembly hangar on Sept. 13. (AP Photo)

Japan initiated secret talks with North Korean officials on two occasions this spring in an apparent attempt to reopen negotiations on resolving the decades-old abduction issue once and for all.

Despite the overture, no agreement was reached for formal talks between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Kishida has repeatedly said he was prepared to meet with Kim  to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and ’80s to train North Korean spies in the Japanese language and the nation’s customs and culture.

The secret talks were held in the same major Southeast Asian city in March and May, according to several well-placed diplomatic sources.

But negotiations have since stalled as North Korea continues to insist the abduction issue was resolved when it permitted five Japanese nationals to leave the country in 2002. Japan suspects that as many as 17 of its citizens were abducted over the years.

Russia has also reached out to North Korea in recent months regarding a shortfall of artillery shells due to its war in Ukraine, and that apparently led Pyongyang to put a summit meeting with Japan on the back burner.

The meetings in March and May involved only a few officials from both sides, but the discussions were wide-ranging, according to the diplomatic sources.

North Korea appeared eager to have dialogue with Japan, the sources said.

Discussions extended to whether there were any Japanese now living in North Korea. North Korean officials did not deny the possibility, but the term “abductees” was not used.

Several sources in the prime minister’s office also confirmed with The Asahi Shimbun that secret talks were held with North Korean officials this spring involving individuals who appeared to have close ties with the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Japanese officials concluded that their detailed knowledge of what was occurring in North Korea meant they mingled with high-ranking party members close to Kim Jong Un.

The contents of the secret discussions were passed on to Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno.

At one time, consideration was given to dispatching a high-ranking government official to Pyongyang this autumn after North Korea lifted its entry ban on visits by foreign nationals.

On May 27, during a meeting with family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, Kishida said he wanted to have high-level discussions with North Korea by officials who reported directly to him.

He made a similar remark when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly session in New York on Sept. 19.

One reason for the stalled negotiations with North Korea may be a difference in priority.

While resolving the abduction issue is at the top of the Japanese agenda, North Korea is more interested in possible economic cooperation after diplomatic ties are normalized.

Sources said Kishida is still eager to dispatch a government official to Pyongyang this autumn, but other sources in the prime minister’s office painted a more pessimistic picture about the likelihood of progress being achieved.

This is because Pyongyang continues to cling to its explanation that the abduction issue was resolved after five Japanese nationals were returned to Japan in October 2002. This followed a visit the previous month by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the current leader’s father.

Kim Jong Il admitted that Japanese nationals had been abducted and apologized.

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