North Korea and Japan may resume talks in the near future.

Former lawmaker and Vice President of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party Taku Yamasaki made the comments in Tokyo Friday after returning from a trip to Beijing.

In Beijing, Yamasaki said he met Pyongyang's top negotiator for talks with Japan and discussed issues surrounding North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals.

The two nations have been locked in a feud over the abduction controversy since 2002, when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il admitted that Pyongyang had kidnapped 13 Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Early this month, Tokyo proposed to hold talks with North Korea on the matter, but Pyongyang showed no signs of responding to the proposal.