NHK, April 2, 2018— Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to ask for US help in resolving the abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea when he meets President Donald Trump later this month.

Abe said on Monday that he hopes to visit Florida from April 17th to the 20th. He said he wants to have in-depth talks for 2 days with Trump on topics that are important for both countries, including their policies on North Korea.

Abe said he would ask Trump to take up the abduction issue at the expected US-North Korean summit. Calling the matter a top priority, he pledged to do his utmost to resolve it through cooperation with the US and South Korea.

Abe also said that past experience shows there is no use in having talks merely for the sake of talks.

He stressed the need to keep applying maximum pressure on the North until it takes verifiable and irreversible steps to completely abandon its nuclear and missile programs.