Japanese delegates in North Korea for abduction talks visited locations Saturday near Pyongyang and in other parts of the country where Japanese abductees are said to have stayed, officials in Tokyo said.

They interviewed relevant people to learn more about the Japanese abductees, who apparently lived in those locations temporarily, the officials said.

The on-site interviews took place after Japanese and North Korean delegates discussed the abduction issue for about four hours in Pyongyang on the fifth day of bilateral dialogue, they said.

The chief delegate, Mitoji Yabunaka, telephoned Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura on Friday night from Pyongyang and said he hoped to "go out to sites as much as possible" over the weekend, according to government sources.

The 19-member delegation broke into groups Friday to interview people and visit related sites to try to find clues to what happened to the 10 people. North Korea has said eight are dead and two never entered its territory.

The delegates, initially scheduled to return to Japan on Saturday, decided to extend their stay to conduct more interviews and continue talks with the North Koreans.

They are now set to return to Japan on Monday on a chartered commercial flight, according to the sources. Regular flights between Pyongyang and Beijing, which are normally used to travel between Japan and North Korea, operate only on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The third round of bilateral dialogue on the abduction issue began Tuesday.

Japan expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of information from North Korea in the previous two rounds held in Beijing.

Jin Il Bo, who claims to be in charge of a North Korean task force reinvestigating the fates of the 10 Japanese, presented his group's findings Wednesday.