JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted cautiously yesterday after being briefed by South Korea’s intelligence chief Suh Hoon on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent overtures.

“I believe it is extremely important that North Korea takes concrete actions to achieve what it has said,” he commented.

Mr Suh, who met Mr Kim in Pyongyang last week, told his host: “I think it was very meaningful that Workers Party of Korea chairman Kim Jong Un expressed his intentions toward denuclearisation in his own words.”

He hoped to convey President Moon Jae In’s message that co-operation between the two Korean states is crucial to the advance toward peace on their shared peninsula.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono took a similar jaundiced approach as Mr Abe when he met Mr Suh on Monday, crediting recent changes in North Korea’s position to increased sanctions pressure.

He insisted that this must continue until Pyongyang matches promises with concrete actions.