Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks in Tokyo on May 19, 2019, during a meeting with relatives of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. (Pool photo)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo

TOKYO - Japan under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rejected a North Korean proposal to return two Japanese men, including a victim of abductions by Pyongyang, in around 2014 and 2015, sources involved in the negotiations said Friday.