DPRK 'prepared' to release report on Japanese abductees

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is ready to provide Japan with the initial findings of a special investigating team that looked into the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang's agents decades ago, Kyodo news agency quoted a DPRK diplomat as saying.

The DPRK admitted in 2002 to kidnapping Japanese citizens. Five abductees have since returned to Japan.

Pyongyang had said the remaining eight were dead and that the issue was closed, but Japan pressed for more information about their fate, and that of others Tokyo believes were kidnapped.

Japan eased some sanctions on the DPRK in July in return for Pyongyang's reopening of a probe into the abductees.

"What can be said is that we are conducting the investigation not only in a specific area, but all concurrently in a scientific and objective manner," Kyodo quoted Song Il-ho, the DPRK's top negotiator in talks with Japan, as saying in an interview in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

"We are fully prepared" to release the first report, he said.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has said the initial report will likely come out sometime between late summer and early autumn.

Asked about Song's reported comments, Suga told a news conference on Thursday: "We have no confirmation. Negotiations are ongoing through the Beijing embassy ... We strongly demand that the DPRK conduct the investigation with sincerity and report all the findings honestly."

In the interview, Song voiced hope that Japan will further remove sanctions against the DPRK as the probe advances, Kyodo said.

But the two sides failed to reach agreement over the DPRK's call for a further easing of Japan's sanctions in return for the initial report when senior officials met secretly in Beijing earlier this month, Kyodo said in a separate report.

The DPRK apparently did not offer new information about 12 Japanese citizens officially designated by Tokyo as abductees who have not yet returned to Japan, Kyodo said, citing sources said to be familiar with the talks.

If the two sides remain at odds, release of the report could be delayed until late September or October, Kyodo said.

Speculation has arisen that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might travel to the DPRK if Pyongyang identifies surviving Japanese citizens there who want to return home.

In July, Abe's government lifted travel curbs to and from the DPRK and ended restrictions on the amount of money that can be sent or brought to the DPRK without notifying Japanese authorities. It also allowed port calls by DPRK ships for humanitarian purposes.