During a parliamentary hearing on national security, Mr Abe said there is "a possibility" Pyongyang is "already capable of shooting missiles with sarin as warheads".
Citing the Syrian regime's alleged use of the nerve agent, the Japanese leader added that "tension is certainly rising" and Tokyo should strengthen its defences against North Korea.
Elaborating on Mr Abe's remarks, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the North "is likely to maintain several facilities to produce chemical weapons and already possesses a considerable number of them".
North Korea has been producing chemical weapons since the 1980s and is now estimated to have up to 5,000 tons of warheads, according to the South Korean defence ministry.
Its stockpile reportedly contains 25 types of agents, including sarin.
In June 1994, members of a Japanese doomsday cult carried out a sarin gas attack in the city of Matsumoto, killing seven people.
A year later, the group was behind another sarin attack on the Tokyo subway which killed 13 people and injured 4,000 others.
While Mr Abe raised concerns over Pyongyang's chemical weapon capabilities, analysts say fresh activity has been monitored at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site in recent days.
US-based 38 North, which monitors the secretive communist state, said satellite images taken on Wednesday showed the base was "primed and ready".
North Korea's nuclear weapons programme featured prominently in talks between Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week.
Following the meeting, the President said he had told Mr Xi "that a trade deal with the US will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem".
He tweeted: "North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great.
"If not, we will solve the problem without them!"
On Sunday, the US sent a Navy strike group into waters near the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against Pyongyang's "reckless" nuclear threat.
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