"Since North Korea has an embassy here, they (Japan) will appreciate if Malaysia can play a role towards finding a solution to the Korean peninsula (crises)," Syed Hamid told reporters.

Syed Hamid said his Japanese counterpart Yoriko Kawaguchi, on a two-day visit to Malaysia, made the request during an hour-long meeting.

"Kawaguchi expressed her concerns -- nuclear and abductions," he said, adding that Kuala Lumpur assured Tokyo that it would assist in whatever way possible. "We will communicate with North Korea."

At a historic summit with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pyongyang last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il 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.

Five surviving victims were allowed to return home in October 2002, but there are growing calls in Japan for their families left behind to be allowed to leave.

Japanese anger over the kidnappings and North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions have stalled the rapprochement process between Tokyo and Pyongyang.

Kawaguchi's press secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima described the kidnapping standoff as "a very serious humanitarian issue".

"We would like any assistance from friendly nations to exert influence on North Korea to resolve the issues," Takashima told reporters.

In the past, Malaysia had hosted a series of meetings between Japan and North Korea who do not have political ties.

Malaysia supports the continuation of the six-nation talks on the nuclear stand-off, Syed Hamid said, as it affects the security of the whole region.

"We must make this region safe. We must do whatever we can to find a solution," he said.

China hosted the nuclear crisis talks, also involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia in Beijing last August. They agreed to seek a solution through dialogue but failed to set a date for a next meeting.

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 and dozens more Japanese might have been kidnapped.

WAR.WIRE