Japan Officials Asked to Visit Pyongyang to Discuss Abduction Probe

Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)--In a bilateral meeting in China on Monday, North Korea called on Japanese government officials to visit Pyongyang to discuss the details of an investigation into Japanese nationals abducted or may have been abducted by the reclusive state, it was learned Tuesday. The Japanese government are considering sending officials to Pyongyang, while studying North Korea's intentions, informed sources said. Returning from the Chinese city of Shenyang, where the talks were held, Junichi Ihara, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, separately told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida what Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of talks to normalize relations with Japan, actually said during the meeting. Speaking to reporters at the prime minister's office later, Abe quoted Song as saying that North Korea is steadily working on scientific and objective investigations into the abduction issue and that Japanese government officials should visit Pyongyang to directly discuss progress made by members of a North Korean special committee set up in July. Song also said the investigation is still in its initial stage and that Pyongyang is not ready to provide results, according to Abe. Kishida said it was regrettable that North Korea did not provide details on the progress of the investigation. The Japanese government needs to decide how it can move the investigation forward, he stressed. Song had initially planned to make the first report on the investigation in mid-September. However, North Korea is not ready to release the results of the investigation into each abducted Japanese national, according to Kishida. Earlier on Tuesday, Abe told a parliamentary meeting that he will do all he can through dialogue and pressure to bring the abduction victims home, stressing his commitment to fully resolving the issue. The Japanese government plans to inform families of abduction victims on Wednesday of what was discussed at the bilateral meeting. At a bilateral meeting in Stockholm in May, North Korea vowed to reinvestigate the abduction issue, including those who may have been abducted to the reclusive state. Although Pyongyang was to make its first report in late summer or early autumn, it later told Japan that the submission would be delayed.