Tokyo will accept a request by Pyongyang to set up two working-level panels to discuss Korean cultural assets seized or destroyed by Japan and the granting of permanent residency to North Koreans in Japan, Foreign Ministry officials said.

Japan plans to inform North Korea of the decision when the two sides hold a plenary session of negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations Tuesday in Tokyo.

Discussions on the subjects will be joined by officials from the Cultural Affairs Agency and other government ministries and agencies, they said.

As part of the deal, Japan will launch investigations into the way art museums across the country obtained Korean art works.

"It will take a considerable amount of time to complete the work," a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

During bilateral normalization talks in Pyongyang in April, Jong Thae Hwa, North Korean ambassador in charge of the negotiations, demanded that Japan resolve issues stemming from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Jong called for a package involving a legally binding written apology, compensation and an assurance of legal status for Koreans living in Japan as permanent residents.

Japanese and North Korean negotiators met in April in Pyongyang to resume normalization talks that collapsed in 1992, but a second round of negotiations, set for late May, was postponed at the request of North Korea. The second round was rescheduled for Aug. 22 to 24.