Japan, N Korea discuss kidnapped

A group of Japanese abducted by North Korea returned home in 2002

A group of senior Japanese officials is making an unannounced visit to Pyongyang to discuss the abduction of Japanese people by North Korea.

The nuclear crisis is also likely to be on the agenda ahead of six-nation talks later this month.

The delegation from the Japanese foreign ministry left on Wednesday and is due to return on Saturday.

Tokyo wants North Korea to hand over relatives of five abductees who are now back in Japan.

"That is priority number one as far as we are concerned," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima told the AFP news agency.

But he also said the group would discuss "nuclear issues".

Five surviving kidnap victims visited Japan in October 2002 and stayed there.

JAPAN'S MISSING Snatched in the '70s and '80s Used as cultural trainers for N Korean spies Five allowed home in 2002 Their children still in N Korea Eight said to be dead, others missing Heartbreak over missing

Tokyo now wants Pyongyang to hand over seven children and one husband of the former abductees, who were seized by North Korean agents in 1978 to train spies in Japanese language and culture.

Tokyo also believes that many more Japanese abductees may still be alive in North Korea.

The Japanese delegation is in Pyongyang two weeks before six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programme are due to resume in Beijing.

The five officials in Pyongyang include Hitoshi Tanaka, responsible for Japan's North Korea policy, and Foreign Minister Director General Mitoji Yabunaka, who represented Japan at the first round of six-nation talks last year.

Along with Japan and North Korea, the other countries involved in the six-party talks are the United States, China, South Korea and Russia.

The aim of the discussions is to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear aspirations.