Kim reportedly made the statement during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang on June 20.
Xi, in turn, conveyed the remarks to Abe as they met on the G20 summit sidelines in Osaka last week. The Chinese president also mentioned Kim’s desire to make sure what the Japanese prime minister really meant by calling for talks without preconditions, according to the broadcaster’s sources close to Japan-China talks.
In late May, Abe said that he was "determined" to meet Kim face-to-face for a "frank discussion", without any preconditions. He has since reiterated his intention, noting that he wanted to have talks with Kim over Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korean intelligence services in the 1970s and 1980s, a pressing issue in relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
