In the run-up to a planned historic summit between the U.S. and North Korean leaders, Japan has won broader international backing for its efforts to address past abductions of its citizens by North Korea and the security threat from the country.

Following U.S. President Donald Trump's promise to do "everything possible" to repatriate Japanese abductees snatched in the 1970s and 1980s, the Group of Seven industrialized nations affirmed close coordination in resolving the issue as well as in ridding Pyongyang of nuclear weapons and removing all North Korean missiles — including shorter-range missiles capable of hitting Japan.

"I have won support from my G-7 counterparts for the immediate resolution of the abduction issue," Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters during a two-day meeting that ended Monday in Toronto with counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United States, and representatives of the European Union.