Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe is considering a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in an apparent change of strategy in dealing with Pyongyang.

Reports of a potential dialogue mark the latest in a series of fast-paced diplomatic developments, with North Korea and the United States recently announcing plans to hold a summit.

Mr Abe reportedly decided to consider the option of dialogue with Pyongyang after he was briefed by Suh Hoon, the South Korean envoy who helped negotiate the US-North Korea meeting, according to Kyodo News.

An Abe-Kim meeting would contrast starkly with the Japanese government’s longstanding policy towards Pyongyang, which has firmly centred on “maximum pressure” and dismissed the idea of “talks for the sake of talks”.

However, such a summit would ease any concerns Japan might currently have that it is being left behind in dealing with North Korea, if talks between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington continue without Tokyo’s involvement.

The last high-level meeting between the two nations took place 14 years ago, when Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi met Mr Kim’s father Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.