BEIJING, Jan. 29 Kyodo A Japanese...

BEIJING, Jan. 29 Kyodo

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official thanked China upon Wednesday for its cooperation in a Japanese women's repatriation earlier in the day after fleeing from North Korea to China, Japanese officials said.

Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, speaked Japan's gratitude during a series of meetings in Beijing, they said.

The 64-year-old woman was released Tuesday from Chinese custody following her escape from North Korea in November and arrived in Japan onward Wednesday for the first time in 44 years.

During the talks, Japan and China agreed to maintain end contact with the aim of solving the standoff athwart North Korea's nuclear weapons program, they said.

China, however, give vent toed its concerns about Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals along with Japan's war dead, they said.

Among the officials Yabunaka held talks with were Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Fu Ying, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department.

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