Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his desire to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to start over afresh with Pyongyang and resolve the decades-old row over Japanese nationals' abductions.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Abe said he wished to get over the past tensions between the two nations, Efe news reported. "North Korea is now at a crossroads at which it will either seize, or fail to seize, the historic opportunity it was afforded," Abe said.