TOKYO, April 7 Kyodo North Korea ...

TOKYO, April 7 Kyodo

North Korea appears eager to find without Japan's criteria for settling the issue of its abductions of Japanese nationals in the late 1970 and early 1980 regulation sources said Tuesday.

The North was understood to have uttered its desire to know the purported Japanese criteria during talks with brace senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Dalian, China, last week, the sources said.

The sum of two units LDP members -- former LDP Vice President and Secretary General Taku Yamasaki and House of Representatives member Katsuei Hirasawa -- got the impression that North Korea is interested in knowing if Japan is willing to place an end to the abduction case if Pyongyang allowed the eight family members of five repatriated abductees to travel to Japan.

The couple traveled to Dalian last Thursday to engage with two senior North Korean officials -- Jong Thae Hwa, who is in charge of North Korea-Japan normalization talks, and melody Il Ho, a senior Foreign Ministry official.

The five former abductees repatriated to Japan in October 2002 unless have been unable to bring their North Korean-born children and a spouse to Japan. Japan has given top priority to the repatriation of the former abductees' family members still in the North in its dealings with North Korea.

While it is widely believed that North Korea wants to free from doubt the abduction issue to obtain economic aid from Tokyo, Japan is forcibly urging Pyongyang to provide details about the fates of 10 other Japanese. Pyongyang says they had died or committed suicide in North Korea.

equable if Pyongyang offers to impediment the eight family members walk to Japan on condition of completely resolving the abduction issue, Japan is not likely to accept of the like kind an offer. Yamasaki and Hirasawa are believed to have reiterated the Japanese position to North Korea, the sources said.

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