Former Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mitoji Yabunaka during an interview at the Asan Plenum in Seoul on April 8, 2026. | Image: Asan Institute for Policy Studies

Tokyo should resolve North Korea’s previous abduction of Japanese nationals in parallel with the problem of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons, according to the country’s former vice foreign minister.

Mitoji Yabunaka, speaking on the sidelines of the recent Asan Forum in Seoul, stressed that building mutual trust is key to making progress in ties with the DPRK.

The former diplomat personally traveled to Pyongyang in 2004 to receive the remains of Megumi Yokota, one of the Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea. However, forensic tests later revealed that the remains did not belong to Yokota, setting back efforts to resolve the