A support group for people kidnapped to North Korea and their families protested on Monday a possible visit to Pyongyang by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to pick up five former abductees' relatives there.
The group said in a statement that if Koizumi visits North Korea now, the reunion of the five former abductees with their relatives would become the focus of attention, leaving the fates of other abductees unexamined.
It said Koizumi should visit only when North Korea is ready to allow all the victims and their kin to come to Japan and disclose all information about kidnapped Japanese.
The five, kidnapped in 1978 and repatriated in October 2002, are among 13 nationals Pyongyang admitted it had abducted when Koizumi made a landmark visit to Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in September 2002.
Tokyo has asked North Korea to re-examine the fates of the remaining eight as well as two others.