A veteran Japanese opposition lawmaker has proposed donating COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea in an effort to break the stalemate over the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by DPRK agents in the 1970s and 80s.

Speaking in a special parliamentary committee meeting on the abduction issue on Friday, Yuko Mori, secretary-general for the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in the Upper House, pointed out that Tokyo has already secured around 364 million vaccine doses, enough to cover the nation’s entire population of 126 million.