A senior North Korean foreign ministry official has suggested that talks between leader Kim Jong Un and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio could be possible if Tokyo drops its preconditions.

Kishida indicated on Saturday that he is ready to start high-level talks without preconditions to secure the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago.

Vice-minister of foreign affairs Pak Sang Gil released a statement on Monday through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Pak said Japan is in fact, "clamoring for settlement over the abduction issue, which had already been resolved," and putting forward the resolution of the issue of North Korea's right to self-defense as a precondition for improving bilateral relations.

He said there is no reason for a summit not to take place, if Japan tries to make a new decision "in conformity with the changed international trend and the times, not being shackled by the past, and seeks a way out for improving the relations."