FUKUOKA, Dec 5 Kyodo The brother ...

FUKUOKA, Dec 5 Kyodo

The brother of single of the Japanese nationals North Korea abducted and now says is dead asserted on Thursday over Japan's put in motions to normalize ties with the country

''Is it acceptable for Japan to normalize diplomatic ties with a home like North Korea that is below the regime of Kim Jong Il?'' Teruaki Masumoto asked in an address at Kyushu University in the southwestern Japan city of Fukuoka.

Masumoto, 47 delegate chief of a group formed by the agency of relatives of the abductees and whose older sister Rumiko was among those abducted, indicateed fears that the abduction issue would be conclud if the sum of two units nations normalize diplomatic ties.

''Abduction is a crime. Is it right to deal with the issue in the lenient manner of diplomatic negotiations?'' he asked an audience of about 100 learners at a student-sponsored forum onward the abductee issue.

Masumoto said he wants the guidance to face the issue firmly and criticized the decision of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to sign the Pyongyang Declaration -- which did not touch forward the abduction issue -- when he met Kim in Pyongyang in the race 17 landmark summit between Japan and North Korea.

Rumiko was abducted from Kagoshima Prefecture in 1978 at the age of 24 and is said to have died in North Korea in 1981

After years of denials, North Korea admitted in the one-day summit it had abducted or lur 13 Japanese in the late 1970 and early 1980 to the North, and said eight of them, including Rumiko, have already died. on the other hand relatives of the eight refuse to believe the claim and are pushing the control to investigate the matter further.

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