Former high-ranking North Korean official Hwang Jang-yop met on Monday with the families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1980s.

During a meeting with the families of abductees in Tokyo, Hwang said he bears some of the responsibility for the abductees issue and that his heart goes out to the families.

Hwang held a similar meeting with abductees’ families in Seoul seven years ago.

Hwang, a former secretary of the ruling North Korean Workers' Party and close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, defected to South Korea in 1997. He is the highest-ranking North Korean to have defected from the communist state.