Congressional staffers Frank Jannuzi and Keith Luse made the assertion in a 45-minute talk with Shinzo Abe, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party secretary general, Abe told reporters later.

Abe spoke with reporters on condition he was not quoted directly.

The US staffers, who were part of an unofficial five-member team that visited North Korea's nuclear facility in Yongbyon last week, did not reveal the details of the state of North Korean nuclear arms development, Abe said.

North Korea said last weekend that it had showed its "nuclear deterrent" to the US visitors and US newspapers later reported that delegation appeared to have seen reprocessed plutonium, a key ingredient for making nuclear bombs.

The US team said it would not speak about the details of their trip until it had reported back to the US Senate, Abe said.

But Jannuzi and Luse told Abe that North Korea appeared willing to solve the standoff over its nuclear weapons through the six-nation talks involving China, Russia, the United States, Japan and the two Koreas, the Japanese politician said.

The first round of talks ended inconclusively in August, and reports have said a second round is expected in February.

The US staffers also told Abe that they discussed the abduction of Japanese citizens for more than an hour with North Korean foreign ministry Asian bureau vice-chief Song Il-Ho, who deals with Japan-North Korean relations.

Song told them North Korea wants to respect the wishes of the five former kidnappees who returned to Japan in October 2002 but left their families back in Pyongyang.

The abductees -- snatched in the 1970s and 1980s to teach Japanese customs and language to North Korean spies -- have repeatedly demanded their seven children, and one American husband, be allowed to join them in Japan.

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