Various Japanese media have quoted multiple North Korean and Japanese officials as saying that there was a meeting between the two nations from last Thursday through Friday at Changchun, China. They reported that Japan’s ex-abduction minister Nakai Hiroshi met with Song Il-ho, a senior North Korean diplomat on Japanese relations.

Kyodo News said Nakai was accompanied to China by officials from the Japanese government’s headquarters to address the abduction issue.

The Japanese media speculate that North Korea and Japan has coordinated stances to resume talks on North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens.