TOKYO, May 14 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is set to visit North Korea as early as next week, the semi-official NHK TV reported Friday.
It is hoped that Koizumi would bring home the eight family members of the five Japanese abducted by North Korea, who returned to Japan in October 2002, a month after Koizumi's first visit to Pyongyang.
According to NHK, Koizumi is to reaffirm the Pyongyang Declaration, signed during his previous visit, with regard to the abduction cases, North Korea's nuclear program and the normalization of relations with Japan.
Relatives of other abductees whose fates have not been conclusively determined fear that their cases will be ignored once the families of the five abductees have returned.
Also it remains to be seen how the possible rapprochement will affect the six-party negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear programs, currently ongoing in Beijing.
The Koizumi visit is apparently the outcome of two days of talks between Japanese and North Korean officials in Beijing last week.
