Japan will dispatch a senior diplomat to Singapore to collect information when the United States and North Korea hold a historic summit next month, Japanese government sources said Saturday.

Tokyo is aiming to use the recent conciliatory mood surrounding North Korea as a momentum to resolve the issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s, which has prevented the two countries from moving to establish diplomatic ties.

Kenji Kanasugi, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, will head the Japanese liaison team to be sent to Singapore in time for the June 12 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.

Although North Korea threatened this week to cancel the meeting if the United States forces it to give up its nuclear program unilaterally, Japan believes the summit is likely to be held.

(The North Korean Embassy in Singapore on May 11)

"It will be a historic meeting between a North Korean leader and a U.S. president. I don't believe Mr. Kim would easily blow such an opportunity," one of the sources said.

The liaison team is expected to seek to have contacts with North Korean officials as well as U.S. officials in Singapore. Kanasugi is charged with negotiations with North Korea.

There is speculation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe or Foreign Minister Taro Kono may visit Singapore to be briefed by Trump on the summit. But the government is apparently waiting to see North Korea's attitude at the summit before deciding on such an option.

Kanasugi, who will visit Singapore from June 11 to 13, is expected to closely communicate with U.S. officials ahead of the summit and to be briefed by them afterwards. Masaaki Kanai, director of the Northeast Asia Division of the bureau, plans to accompany him, the sources said.