Japan, North Korea to have talks

BEIJING, June 10 (UPI) -- Japan will respond the same way as North Korea at their Beijing talks on the issue of abducted Japanese nationals, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

Speaking on the formal talks set to start Wednesday in Brijing ahead of the six-party talks on North Korea's de-nuclearization, Masahiko Komura said Japan will take an "action for action" approach with Pyongyang, Kyodo news service reported.

"If our counterpart makes a significant step forward and takes concrete action, then we too will take a big step in response. If it is a small step, ours will also be small," he was quoted as saying.

Japan has agreed to "settle the wartime past" and normalize ties with North Korea, including paying reparations for Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, Kyodo reported. That will depend on the North resolving the abduction of Japanese nationals by its agents, as well its nuclear and missile issues.

The issue relates to the number of Japanese nationals kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s and what happened to them since then. Five of the abductees returned to Japan in 2002 and North Korea has said another eight died.

Japan maintains at least dozen more of its nationals are yet to be accounted for by North Korea, Kyodo said.