Japan, N. Korea stall in abduction talks

BEIJING, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Talks on the abduction of Japanese nationals between Japan and North Korea reached an impasse in Beijing Wednesday, the Kyodo news agency reported.

The two countries met as a sideline to the six-nation North Korean nuclear talks, but the result was only an agreement to continue dialogue.

Japan repeated its demand North Korea promptly and unconditionally send the families of five repatriated abductees to Japan, and Japan's chief delegate Mitoji Yabunaka also called on the North to provide fuller accounts on the fates of 10 people other than the five returnees whom the Japanese government recognizes as victims of abduction by North Korea.

The North recently proposed the five returnees fly to Pyongyang airport to meet their children and the husband of one of them to confirm their willingness to go to Japan, and claims the cases of the 10 missing have been resolved.

Of the 10, Pyongyang maintains eight are dead and that it has no record of the other two having entered its territory.

The victims' families have rejected North Korea's claims, saying it has not provided sufficient evidence.