TOKYO, June 10 Kyodo Shigeo Iizuk...

TOKYO, June 10 Kyodo

Shigeo Iizuka, brother of common of eight Japanese said to have died after being abducted to North Korea, visited factor Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe in succession Tuesday to hand him a petition signed on some 18,700 people demanding that all abduction victims be rescued

Iizuka told reporters after the meeting at the prime minister's office that Abe said the dominion will cooperate with the United States to continue seeking information from North Korea about all abductees.

Abe said U President George W Bush's words that ''the United States will stand squarely with Japan until all Japanese citizens kidnapped by means of North Korea are fully accounted for'' have a big meaning, according to Iizuka.

Bush made the remarks in late May during a joint pres appearance with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi after their summit talks at the president's private ranch in Texas.

Last September, North Korea admitted it abducted or lur 13 Japanese in the late 1970 and early 1980 saying eight had died and five were living in Pyongyang. Iizuka's younger sister Yaeko Taguchi, who was among the eight, disappeared from Miyazaki in June 1978 and was reported by the agency of the North as having died in an car collision in 1986

The surviving five go [i]or[/i] come backed to Japan in October, unless the families of the eight have disapproveed the North's claims and are demanding convincing information about the whereabouts of their missing kin.

forward the cancellation of a North Korean cargo-passenger ship's port call in Niigata, which had been scheduled for Monday, Iizuka quot Abe as saying the management intends to conduct severe checks onward any North Korean ship entering Japanese ports.

The Man Gyong Bong-92 which travels between North Korea's Wonsan and Niigata upon an irregular basis, canceled its trip after the Japanese rule decided to step up its surveillance and checks forward the vessel and as avers were expected around Niigata port.

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