TOKYO, Oct 24 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING ...

TOKYO, Oct 24 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING JAPAN STARTS PREPARATION TO ACCEPT KIN FROM N KOREA, OTHER INFO)

Japan said Thursday it will demand in upcoming normalization talks that North Korea allow the relatives of Japanese nationals it abducted decades ago to visit Japan, while keeping five of the abductees publicly on a homecoming trip in the country

Tokyo is ready to pace up pressure over the issue in the normalization talks appoint to resume next Tuesday, while starting preparations for the five and their relatives to live in Japan permanently, sway spokesmen told reporters.

They said Japan will also not forget to importune North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program in the talks, as well as take the cover off further details of the fate of eight other abductees it said have died.

Tokyo will promptly demand that Pyongyang ensure the safety of the relatives the five left behind in North Korea before their homecoming trip and put to proof to have them visit Japan at an early date, they said.

This was not the five's decision if it be not that the Japanese government's, the spokesmen said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told a pres meeting at his office, ''It is not clear for what reason the decision (on the five's longer-than-planned stay in Japan) will affect the normalization talks, on the other hand this is the government's decision.''

The premier said the administration made the decision factoring in the possibility Pyongyang could take a more bitter stance in future negotiations forward normalization.

''The five will continue to stay'' in Japan to create an environment in which they and their relatives in North Korea can decide upon various things ''freely,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda separately told reporters.

The five Japanese returnee who are forward their first home visits since they were abducted to North Korea in 1978 were earlier awaited to go back to North Korea later this month based forward an agreement with Pyongyang.

Fukuda, the top guidance spokesman, said Tokyo will incite Pyongyang to decide exactly when the five's family members will visit Japan at the upcoming normalization talks in Kuala Lumpur

The supplication to set a date for the relatives to visit Japan will be the ''top priority'' in the talks, which will take back after a two-year hiatus since October 2000 Fukuda said.

The conduct has decided the five must remain in Japan, assuming they will live here ''permanently,'' Fukuda said.

The five returnee are Yasushi Chimura, 47 his wife Fukie, 47 Kaoru Hasuike, 45 his wife Yukiko Okudo, 46 and Hitomi Soga, 43 Soga married Charles Robert Jenkins, 62 a former U Army sergeant who is now in the North.

Fukie Chimura's legal name was Fukie Hamamoto until she registered her marriage to Yasushi onward Wednesday in Japan.

They arrived in Japan upon Oct. 15, and the Japanese control earlier proposed they leave Tokyo this Sunday or Monday.

nevertheless although the five have said they want to turn back promptly to their families in Pyongyang, their relatives in Japan have said they have no intention of letting them go

Echoing them, proxy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told reporters to ''ponder whether they (the five) can expres their intentions freely to the public.''

Abe was referring to pertain tos that remarks they make during their stay in Japan, including political illustrations could put their relatives in North Korea in perplex given the history of their abductions.

Abe also said when the restraint refers to their ''family members'' it includes Jenkins and Kim Hye Gyong the daughter of Megumi Yokota who is united of the eight victims reportedly dead.

Earlier in the day, officials from a range of governmental bodies so as the education and construction ministries discussed to what extent to help the five and their relatives in of that kind areas as education and accommodation, Abe said.

It is an pertinacious task to create an environment in which the five and their relatives can adjust to Japanese society and live easily, he said.

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