Japan will ask North Korea to return the remains of Shoji Terakoshi, who disappeared while fishing in the Sea of Japan in 1963, a senior Foreign Ministry official has told a family member.

Terakoshi's son, Akio, 53, believes a North Korean agent shot and killed his father, who was 36 at the time, and abducted two other relatives who were with him.

Akio Terakoshi, who lives in Shio, Ishikawa Prefecture, has asked the government to seek the return of his father's remains.