Widespread suspicion over North Korea's agenda has failed to dampen speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may visit Pyongyang in the near future to secure the passage to Japan of the families of the five repatriated abductees.
According to some media reports, Hitoshi Tanaka, deputy foreign minister, and Mitoji Yabunaka, director of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, will hold bilateral talks on the matter with North Korea in China or elsewhere as early as this weekend. Officials would not confirm these reports.
It would be Koizumi's second visit to the country, following his historic summit there in September 2002.