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Japanese officials said Sunday they would seek a second round of abduction talks with North Korea in March, instead of pressing Pyongyang on the issue of kidnapped Japanese nationals during upcoming nuclear crisis negotiations. Tokyo now feels it would be difficult to achieve any concrete results by raising the issue during the nuclear talks, planned for February 25, Kyodo news quoted government officials as saying Sunday night. North Korea said Saturday it would oppose Japan's participation in the upcoming nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and China, if Tokyo brought up the kidnapping issue on the talks agenda. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda had earlier Sunday said Tokyo intended to raise the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean spy agents in the 1970s and 1980s, despite Pyongyang's warning. "The kidnapping issue is recognized as an important matter in the international community and we are going to discuss that," he told reporters. Fukuda was speaking after being briefed by two senior diplomats who returned Saturday from a three days of inconclusive discussions in Pyongyang on the abductions. Later, the diplomats briefed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who held a landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il on September 17, 2002. "I hope solid commitments can be made on issues relating to North Korea, including the abductions and the nuclear problem, since they are extremely important," Koizumi told the diplomats, according to Kyodo. "I would like to see achievements made as early as possible." To reporters, the prime minister said: "It is not easy" to deal with North Korea. In the next round of abduction talks, Japanese negotiators are hoping to discuss a specific arrangement to bring the relatives of the former abductees to Japan, Kyodo reported the sources as saying. Japan will also seek an agreement with North Korea on the establishment of a committee to investigate 10 abductees who North Korea said it has no knowledge of or have died. Japan is mulling conducting its own investigations in the North on the 10, the sources said, according to Kyodo. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, during the last talks with Japan, North Korea indicated that it would let the eight relatives -- seven children and a husband -- of the five former abductees go to Japan if Tokyo first lets the former abductees come to the North and confirm the relatives wish to visit Japan, Kyodo said. Japan, however, said it would not send the former abductees to the North but may instead have ministerial-level officials collect the relatives, the sources said. burs-shi-sdm/jfs All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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