South Korean and UN officials monitoring human rights in North Korea have met with the relatives of Japanese abductees, including the mother of Yokota Megumi.

South Korea's envoy for North Korea's human rights, Lee Shin-hwa, and Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the North, had separate meetings with the relatives in Tokyo on Monday.

The relatives included Yokota Sakie, whose daughter was abducted by North Korea in 1977 while on her way home from junior high school in Niigata Prefecture.

During the closed-door meetings, the relatives reportedly stressed the urgency of addressing the issue quickly, since abductees' parents are aging and don't have much time left for a reunion.

Lee offered words of sympathy and signaled Seoul's readiness to work closely with Tokyo to resolve the issue, according to attendees.

Salmon said the international community is ready to help them achieve a breakthrough. Salmon also told Yokota Sakie that it feels like she is her own mother.

Yokota Takuya, the leader of the relatives' group, later said human rights are the last thing Pyongyang want to be criticized over. He added that Japan-South Korea cooperation and a global move to pressure Pyongyang over the abduction issue could provide momentum to resolve the issue.