On Friday, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the first formal talks in over two years. The talks scheduled to take place on Tuesday will focus on Pyongyang's participation in the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
"The only thing that will give the talks meaning is committed and concrete action by Pyongyang to abandon nuclear weapons and missiles in a complete verifiable and irreversible way," Abe told the NHK broadcaster.
READ MORE: Pyongyang Accepts Seoul's Offer of High-Level Talks Next Week
The tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high recently due to the repeated nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches carried out by Pyongyang in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. North Korean officials have been refusing to engage into dialogue for a long time, but in the New-Year address country's leader Kim Jong Un allowed the participation of North Korean athletes in the Olympics and both sides began preparations for the bilateral high-level talks.
