The head of a group representing families of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea has urged Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and US President Joe Biden to take up the abductions issue at their summit next week.

Yokota Takuya spoke at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Friday. He is the brother of abductee Yokota Megumi.

He said many elderly relatives of the abductees have passed away without seeing their loved ones. He said that only two, including his mother Yokota Sakie, are now alive. He stressed that there is little time left for the families.

Yokota referred to the summit between Kishida and Biden to be held in the United States next week.

He said he wants Kishida to emphasize that Japan continues its commitment to resolve the abduction issue. He said it is a human rights and humanitarian matter between Japan and North Korea.

Yokota also said he wants the two leaders to promise that the US will continue to cooperate with Japan and support it on the abductees. He also wants them to promise to never ease sanctions against North Korea until the issue is resolved.

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong issued a statement saying any attempt by Japan to contact Pyongyang over the abductees will be rejected.

Yokota said the perpetrator is North Korea and the victim is Japan. He said he wants the Japanese government to angrily tell the North that Japan will make no concessions on the issue.

The Japanese government says at least 17 of its citizens were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Five were repatriated after a bilateral summit in 2002, but the other 12 remain unaccounted for.