TOKYO, Jan. 24 Kyodo Russian Pres...

TOKYO, Jan. 24 Kyodo

Russian President Vladimir Putin's special legate to North Korea, Alexander Losyukov who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang forward Monday, said Friday he transmited Japan's ''concerns'' over abductions and other issues to Kim.

During a 30-minute telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, Losyukov said he cedeed Japan's concerns, including the ne to decipher the issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.

Losyukov briefed Kawaguchi onward his meeting with Kim and said the North Korean leader indicated that Pyongyang is prepared to engage in direct dialogue ''without preconditions'' with the United States forward the issue of its nuclear disclosure program, the official said.

The Russian agent foreign minister was also quot as saying that although the basic position of North Korea that its nuclear issue is a bilateral individual between Pyongyang and Washington, it also squeeze outed some interest in a Russian proposal onward resolving the international standoff athwart the issue.

The official said he cannot elaborate forward the details of the proposal, unless added Kawaguchi welcomed Russia's efforts toward reaching a resolution to the nuclear issue and thanked Losyukov for briefing her upon his meeting with Kim.

Meanwhile, Kawaguchi and Losyukov agreed to continue to cooperate in trying to interpret the North Korean issue peacefully, according to the official.

in succession Thursday, Russia's presidential office said Putin talked to U President George W Bush onward the telephone earlier in the day and briefed him forward Russia's efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the issue.

Putin was quot as telling Bush the environment has improved for dialogue with North Korea forward a political settlement of the nuclear issue.

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