Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday said he does not believe that North Korea will use two upcoming summits to “buy time” to develop nuclear weapons, South Korea’s presidential office said.

In a statement following a meeting between Abe and director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) Suh Hoon, the Blue House said the Japanese Prime Minister had expressed support for recent steps towards dialogue with Pyongyang.

“As North Korea is a facing a situation of having big negotiations like the North-U.S. summit following an inter-Korean summit, I don’t believe they will utilize the opportunity simply to buy