SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) – The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday said the regime is open to improving its relationship with Japan, including inviting the Japanese leader to Pyongyang.

Kim Yo-jong's remark came after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a speech last week that he feels a "strong need" to change the current relationship between Tokyo and Pyongyang, and that he is currently making related activities.

"I think there would be no reason not to appreciate his recent speech as a positive one, if it was prompted by his real intention to boldly free himself from the past fetters and promote the DPRK-Japan relations," Kim said in an English report by the Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

Kim added the Japanese prime minister's visit to Pyongyang "might come," given that Tokyo "drops its bad habit of unreasonably pulling up the DPRK over its legitimate right to self-defence and does not lay such a stumbling block as the already settled abduction issue."

The abduction issue has been one of the key hurdles for diplomatic normalization between North Korea and Japan for decades. Japan claims it has confirmed the abductions of 17 Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s for language education for North Korean spies.

"I think our state leadership still has no idea of repairing the DPRK-Japan relations and has no interest in contact," she said. "It is necessary to watch the ulterior intention of Prime Minister Kishida in the future."

Meanwhile, a Japanese media outlet reported earlier this week that Kishida is considering visiting South Korea in late March and holding a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, which would mark the second visit by the Japanese leader.

Photo from Yonhap