"Japan pays serious attention to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles and trends in their development, and usually takes efforts to collect information about them and analyze it … We are working closely with the United States to address the issue of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday refraining from providing any further details.
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The official highlighted Tokyo's desire to continue cooperation with Washington on the North Korean problem in the future as well.
"We would like to continue working closely with the United States to resolve the issues of abductions [of Japanese citizens by North Korea], nuclear weapons, and missiles," he said.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry refrained from providing any further comments on the issue to Sputnik, referring to the remarks made by Suga.
"Speaking about the media reports you are talking about, we have seen them. In fact, we all know that starting from last year, the DPRK [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea] has taken a number of positive measures toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. We believe that these steps should be recognized and encouraged," Lu said at a briefing.
The diplomat added that all concerned parties should continue to adhere to a political path in resolving the crisis on the peninsula and work together for the sake of peace and stability in the region.
This comes after on Tuesday, several US think tanks and South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that satellite pictures showed works were underway to restore the Sohae Satellite Launching Station at Tongchang-ri, which North Korea pledged to dismantle after the summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore last year.
On the same day, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told Fox broadcaster on Tuesday that the United States would see if Pyongyang remained committed to abandoning its nuclear weapons program, warning that Washington might even consider "ramping up" economic sanctions on North Korea.
Prior to that, Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un failed to produce any agreement at their second summit in Hanoi.
The second meeting between Trump and Kim, that took place in Hanoi last week, ended when the US president walked away from the talks on their second day after the North Korean leader demanded that all sanctions be lifted in exchange for denuclearization, but not in the areas Washington wanted.
