Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was reelected for the third term as the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on September 20, lengthening his tenure as prime minister until 2021. Just prior to his reelection, he visited Vladivostok, Russia, from September 11-13 to attend the Eastern Economic Forum. While there, he held bilateral summit meetings with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which North Korea loomed large on the agenda. He also visited China on October 25 in which North Korea was discussed.

Abe’s talks with his Russian and Chinese counterparts come at a time when US-DPRK nuclear negotiations seem to have regained momentum, with talks of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un getting underway. There is some expectation that this second summit will help break the logjam that has characterized the relationship over the last few months as the two sides failed to come to an agreement on a roadmap for how to move forward.

This article was originally published by 38 North on October 26, 2018. Read the full article here.