Japan reaches agreement with North Korea

TOKYO, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Japan said Wednesday North Korea agreed to a time frame for investigating the abductions of Japanese nationals, a major dispute between the two nations.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said North Korea agreed to complete the probe by this fall, Kyodo news service reported.

Representatives of North Korea and Japan had been meeting this week in Shenyang, China, to resolve the abductions issue, which is also part of the six-nation talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization. The United States, China, Russia and South Korea are the other members.

In return for North Korea restarting the kidnap investigation, Japan agreed to lift two of its sanctions against Pyongyang, Kyodo said.

The two sides, however, didn't resolve the issue of allowing North Korean ships to enter Japanese ports for the shipping of humanitarian goods, the report said.

The China meeting was held after North Korea promised in June to once again look into the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.