Japan and North Korea are highly likely to meet before the expected January resumption of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi said Monday.
"There is a high possibility the talks will happen before the six-party talks," Yachi said in a news conference.
He stopped short of giving an exact time frame for when the meeting over abductions and other issues will reconvene, given that the date of the six-party talks is still being arranged by host China.
Yachi said he hopes the bilateral talks will be held "as soon as possible," perhaps in December.
Tokyo and Pyongyang last held governmental meetings Nov. 3 and 4 in Beijing without progress on substantive issues, such as North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals. The two parties agreed only to meet again soon.
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