Bilateral talks over compensating North Korea for Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula must also include the abduction issue, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.

"If anything, we are interested in the abduction issue," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, referring to the Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. "We cannot (agree to talks) with (the abduction issue) left on the back burner."

The most important matter is for North Korea to resolve the abduction issue at the earliest possible date, Fukuda said.