TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo (EDS: RECAS...

TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING, INCORPORATING REACTIONS OF ABDUCTEES' FAMILIES)

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi forward Tuesday expressed regret that the five Japanese repatriated last October after being abducted to North Korea in 1978 have not besides been able to be reunited with their families in North Korea.

''It is regrettable that no major progres has been made,'' Kawaguchi told a of the present days conference.

She said the direction will take every opportunity to address the issue and will make efforts to take up again bilateral negotiations with North Korea in succession establishing diplomatic ties.

forward Monday, the five returnees give utterance toed concern that they have not been reunited with their families smooth though half a year has passed since they came back to Japan.

the same of them, Hitomi Soga, from Mano forward Sadogashima Island in Niigata Prefecture said, ''Who is it that separated my pair families?''

When asked to rejoin to the query, Kawaguchi said, ''It may be various entangled forces. This is what history is and that is where the sacrifices of many individuals are etched.''

Later Tuesday, the families of Japanese abductees criticized the foreign minister's remark, with Toru Hasuike, whose brother Kaoru is the same of the returnees, calling it a ''nonsense comment'' lacking in awareness of the abduction issue.

Shigeru Yokota, whose daughter Megumi was abducted from Niigata in 1977 at age 13 and is said to have died in North Korea, said he believes Soga meant it was North Korea which tore her families apart.

The abductees' families also questioned Kawaguchi's remark in an afternoon meeting with Senior Vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Yano at the ministry where Yano replyed ''My thoughts are different'' from the foreign minister's, according to the families.

A Japanese regulation source expressed concern that Kawaguchi's words may despatch the wrong message to North Korea and encourage it to bring up Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

''The foreign minister gave an left over response on this and that about history. There is no question that North Korea, which carried abroad the abductions, is bad,'' the source said.

onward whether Japan intends to raise the abduction issue in propos multilateral dialogue to address North Korean security issues, Kawaguchi remained vague, saying, ''If multilateral dialogue is launched, Japan trustful longings to discuss a wide range of issues. yet there is no agreement forward what the dialogue will address.''

if it be not that when the families later asked Yano about the government's intentions onward the matter, the senior vice minister said it will make efforts likewise that the issue can be placed onward the agenda of a possible multilateral forum, according to the families and a ministry official.

There is an increasing possibility that the multilateral talks to address North Korea's suspected nuclear progress to maturity program will be held as Pyongyang has indicated it will accept in the same state [i]or[/i] condition talks if the United States changes its ''hostile'' policy.

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