Japan will not rule out the possibility of dispatching aid to North Korea if it leads to progress on the abduction issue, a top government spokesperson said Monday, as Tokyo faces mounting pressure from families of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago.

“We have constantly considered all options and will continue to consider them” to resolve the abduction issue, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said in response to a reporter’s question about aid transfers to the DPRK. Matsuno also serves as Tokyo’s point man on abduction issues.

Japan holds that North Korea kidnapped 17 Japanese nationals in