Japan renewed demands that North Korea fulfill its responsibility for the abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, one of Tokyo's three conditions for helping the Stalinist state's collapsed economy.

The North, which tried to prevent the issue from being raised here, flatly rejected Tokyo's demands, according to Japanese officials.

"We want a more positive response from them," chief Japanese delegate Mitoji Yabunaka told reporters. "We'll continue making strong demands on this issue."

Japan is also pressing North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms development and to stop making and exporting ballistic missiles. North Korea stunned the world by lobbing a suspected ballistic missile over Japan in 1998.

Yabunaka and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong-Il met twice on the second day of the three-day multilateral talks focused on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Both the abduction and nuclear issues were discussed in two sideline meetings lasting a total 40 minutes, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

It was the first formal contact between the two countries since October when they met in Kuala Lumpur to resume stalled decade-old negotiations aimed at normalising diplomatic ties.

The talks in Kuala Lumpur, which followed a landmark summit in Pyongyang on September 17 between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, became bogged down over the kidnap cases.

During the summit, Kim admitted for the first time that his agents had kidnapped a dozen young Japanese for use in the training of spies to infiltrate South Korea. Only five of them are alleged to have survived.

The kidnap issue has angered the Japanese public and, coupled with the fresh nuclear threat, stalled the rapprochement process.

Five surviving kidnap victims have been allowed to return home but there are growing calls in Japan for their families -- seven children and a spouse -- left behind in North Korea to be allowed to leave. The five survivors have refused to go back to North Korea.

Japan, which owes the North a token of atonement for its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, insists more of the abductees must be still alive. It also believes dozens more Japanese might have been kidnapped.

Yabunaka, the chief Japanese delegate, "demanded the return of families of the abductees to Japan and efforts to bring to light the truth behind the issue."

The Japanese statement added that the North Korean side "repeated its existing position" that Japan has broken a "promise" by refusing to return the abductees after their visits home.

"It may be because of the atmosphere here of the six-party talks, but the North basically made the same point as before," Yabunaka told reporters.

Prime Minister Koizumi has been seen as cautiously seeking a settlement of the issue to boost his chances of re-election, while the North is seen as intent on using the issue to gain economic aid from Japan.

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