Japan and North Korea remained at odds over the abductions issue when a group of Japanese diplomats visited Pyongyang last week for the first official contact between the two countries in several months, the Foreign Ministry says.
While the Japanese delegates urged Pyongyang to resume government-to-government talks to resolve the abductions issue, their North Korean counterparts maintained that Tokyo "keep its promise" and send back the five former abductees repatriated to Japan in 2002, a ministry official told reporters late Saturday evening.
On the request for governmental talks, the North Korean officials said only that they will "properly report" the request to their relevant authorities, according to the ministry official, who asked not to be named.