Japan sends envoys to North Korea

Two of the survivors Japan may seek to interview

A team of Japanese officials has flown to North Korea to gather information about a dozen Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

The officials are expected to spend four days in the capital Pyongyang, interviewing surviving abductees and conducting DNA tests.

Koizumi vowed to respect the relatives' feelings

On Friday Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told the relatives of those captured that the issue remains his top priority in dealings with Pyongyang.

North Korea admitted to and apologised for the abductions at a historic summit with Mr Koizumi last week.

Pyongyang says only five of those kidnapped are still alive, but the relatives told Mr Koizumi they wanted to see proof of the deaths and also demanded the rapid return of the survivors.

Test material

The Japanese Government faces public anger over the belief that some of the abductees - who were in the 20s and 30s at the time - died in suspicious circumstances.

Tokyo says it wants to use DNA testing to check whether both the surviving and deceased kidnapped are who Pyongyang says they are, and to investigate how they died.

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Shigeru Yokota, whose daughter was abducted when she was 13, gave the government team a clipping of her hair. Other families provided old photographs and letters.

The relatives have been outraged by the government's decision to resume talks on restoring diplomatic relations with North Korea.

But Mr Yokota told a press conference that he was disappointed by the meeting with Mr Koizumi.

"We had hoped that the prime minister would give us a more clear-cut explanation about how he plans to address our demands," he said.

Hatsui Hasuike, whose son disappeared after meeting his girlfriend in a library in 1978, said: "We want the prime minister to reply to our 25 years of suffering."

Mr Koizumi promised to "respect the families' feelings when we discuss formalising ties".

North Korea on Thursday said it would do all it can to ease the pain of family members - but it also warned that inordinate protests over the issue could spell doom for diplomatic ties.

The BBC's correspondent in Tokyo, Charles Scanlon, says it is the first indication that North Korea may be losing patience with the furore over the abductions.