North Korea calls on Japan for progress in weekend talks
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-24 14:52

A North Korean envoy called on Japan on Saturday to make progress toward forming diplomatic ties in talks about the North's abduction of Japanese nationals and other issues.

Diplomats from the two sides were due to hold weekend talks in the Chinese capital after meetings last month produced no progress.

"We are aiming at normalizing the diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan, and I hope the Japanese side should work harder in this regard," North Korean envoy Song Il Ho told reporters, referring to the North by the initials of its formal name.

"I hope we will be able to reach some agreements on issues concerning the relationship between the two countries," Song said.

The two countries are at odds over the North's nuclear weapons, its ballistic missile program, the abductions and Pyongyang's demand for compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

Also Saturday, a top Japanese official appealed for a "sincere response" from the North about its abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and '80s.

North Korea in 2002 acknowledged abducting 13 Japanese citizens and allowed five of them to return to Japan. It said the other eight died, but many in Japan suspect some might still be alive.

"The most important issue is the abductions," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo. "We expect a sincere response from North Korea."

North Korea is eager to establish relations with Japan in hopes of winning investment and development aid.

Tokyo is primarily interested in neutralizing the military threat from Pyongyang.

The two days of talks last month were the first between the two sides in more than a year. But they ended in discord over the North's demands for compensation and Japan's demands over the abductions.