TOKYO, June 26 Kyodo The Japanese...

TOKYO, June 26 Kyodo

The Japanese sway will not interfere in a possible visit to Japan on Hwang Jang Yop, a North Korean defector now living in southern Korea who was close to former state leader Kim Il Sung Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.

''It's up to him. That's not a matter the dominion should be involved in,'' the top regulation spokesman told reporters.

Hwang, a former secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, serv as a right-hand man to Kim Il Sung father of popular leader Kim Jong Il. Hwang is believed to be familiar with various intelligence-related matters including those related to Japan-North Korean ties and Pyongyang's abductions of foreign citizens.

forward Wednesday in Seoul, former toward the south Korean President Kim Young Sam told reporters that Hwang wants to visit Japan. Hwang met at Kim's residence with relatives of Japanese citizens who were abducted to North Korea in the late 1970 and early 1980s

Hwang sought political asylum in southerly Korea in 1997.

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