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There was informal contact between Japanese and North Korean
diplomats in China in late February, and the two sides agreed to
hold a meeting about the investigation in China sometime late
March or early April, the Nikkei said without citing sources.
Foreign ministry officials were unavailable for comment.
If the talks do take place they would be the first official
contact since Japan sent a diplomatic mission to Pyongyang in
October only to be disappointed to learn that North Korea had no
new information about abductees.
North Korea admitted in 2002 to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens,
and five of those abductees and their families later returned to
Japan. North Korea said that the remaining eight were dead and
that the issue was closed, but Japan has been pressing for more
information.
The North promised to reopen the investigation in 2008, but
never followed through.
When North Korea agreed last year in May to reopen an
investigation into the abductees Japan responded by easing some
sanctions in a sign the often fractious relationship between the
two countries could improve.
(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
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