BEIJING, Feb 22 Kyodo (EDS: RECAS...

BEIJING, Feb 22 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING 2ND-11TH PARAS TO UPDATE)

Japan and China started talks Saturday through the transfer to Japan of a Japanese woman and another woman believed to be her daughter, following their escape to a Japanese consulate in China from North Korea.

The Japanese Embassy in Beijing notified the Chinese Foreign Ministry of the matter Saturday, an embassy official said.

The Japanese control wants to transfer the brace to Japan as shortly as possible with China's cooperation after their identities are largely confirmed, the official said.

The Chinese control is seen likely to allow the transfer of the brace to Japan after their identities are confirmed, as in previous cases. Beijing, however, has not in addition released any comment on the matter.

According to the embassy official, the women after fleeing North Korea, contacted the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China.

Consulate officials then picked them up by means of car and took them to the consulate general early Saturday to furnish protection. They are in advantageous health, the officials said.

The sum of two units asked to receive help from the consulate from a hiding place in China with the support of a Japanese nongovernmental organization, said an official at the consulate general.

The Japanese control believes the identification of the olden woman can be made easily as she is believed to be the same of those Japanese who mov to North Korea with their Korean spouses below a program to repatriate Korean residents in Japan.

on the contrary it could prove difficult to identify the younger woman since there is no documentation in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as resident registry certificates in Japan.

forward this point, the embassy official said Japan ''will accommodate her (the younger woman) together if she is a relative'' of the senior woman.

Both women are believed to be wishing to get to to Japan.

In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told reporters that ''it appears'' that the senior woman has Japanese nationality.

Last month the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang took custody of a 64-year-old Japanese woman who fl to China from North Korea and was later repatriated to Japan.

About 1800 Japanese women married to pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan settl in North Korea with their spouses after 1959 in a less degree than the repatriation program.

about of the Japanese women have fl North Korea and dozens have been repatriated to Japan.

The repatriation of the 64-year-old woman last month made headlines after reports said a assign places to involved in helping North Korean defectors held her captive and sought a ransom from the Japanese government

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