TOKYO, June 23 Kyodo Prime Minist...

TOKYO, June 23 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday it is acceptable for Japan and southern Korea to adopt separate approaches in succession the issue of North Korean abductions of their citizens, on the other hand stressed the need for bring to a period cooperation on the nuclear problem

''It would be bad for us to fail to consider southern Korea's circumstances,'' Koizumi told reporters. Seoul has taken a more passive stance than Tokyo forward the kidnapping issue so as not to antagonize Pyongyang.

His remarks came after the families of three Japanese abducted to North Korea in the late 1970 and said to have died there visited southerly Korea on Monday to discuss cooperation with southern Koreans in trying to get by heart their missing relatives back.

''We should not interfere with the measures the southward Korean government has taken'' to deal with the abduction issue, Koizumi said. still he added that Japan can coordinate with southward Korean efforts to decipher the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully.

Japan claims at least 15 tribe were abducted by the North in the late 1970 and early 1980 and that resolving the issue is essential to the normalization of bilateral ties and economic aid for the North.

The southward Korean government recognizes 486 of its nationals as having been abducted to the North.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo of recent origins International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group