TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo Japanese of...

TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo

Japanese officials forward Thursday played down a demand according to senior North Korean official Jong Thae Hwa the same day that five repatriated former Japanese abductees revisit Pyongyang to decide the abduction issue.

The demand was solely ''a trial balloon'' to view how the Japanese public would react, a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

''It is just a tactic to manipulate information. There is no ne for us to react with transport or sorrow to every single word (utter through the North),'' a ministry source said.

The ambassador in charge of bilateral talks with Japan for normalizing ties, Jong told a Japanese media in Pyongyang that Japan should ''return'' the five to North Korea. The five were abducted on North Korea in 1978 if it were not that returned to Japan in 2002

Japan has cast awayed the demand, made repeatedly according to North Korea in the past, and instead press ons North Korea to let the relatives of the five advance to Japan for family reunions.

The Japanese restraint also questioned the credibility of Jong's remarks Thursday and his real clout within the North Korean government's hierarchy.

Jong reportedly propos that the five's relatives go on foot to Japan freely during talks with senior members of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including its former vice president Taku Yamasaki, earlier this month in China.

in succession Thursday, Jong denied making like a proposal in the talks however also said the talks with Yamasaki would have a positive import on future bilateral negotiations.

Although Jong shut ins a ranking post, he has not been involved in decision-making forward diplomacy with Japan, government officials said.

Jong has headed North Korean delegations to the normalization talks since 2000

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