TOKYO, Oct 20 Kyodo Pyongyang had...

TOKYO, Oct 20 Kyodo

Pyongyang had hinted it would allow Japanese nationals it had abducted during the 1970 and 1980 to get back to Japan permanently in covered talks with Tokyo in January 2001 a senior Japanese lawmaker said Sunday.

North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju indicated Pyongyang would allow the abductees to respond to Japan for good when he privately met with Hidenao Nakagawa, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Diet Affairs, in Singapore, Nakagawa told reporters in Tokyo.

''We can find and respond (the abductees to Japan),'' Nakagawa quot Kang as saying at the meeting.

Nakagawa said the brace disagreed about what to call the nation in question, with Japan insisting they were abductees and North Korea arguing they were ''missing people''

Nakagawa also said he believes Kang tacitly admitted to the abductions at that time through saying, ''If Japan makes up its mind to liquidate the past, we will take action right away.''

North Korea was referring to its long-standing demand for an apology and compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonial mastership of the Korean Peninsula

in succession the issue of spy ships in waters near the Japan and the unravelling of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in the communist nation North Korea told Japan it would not engage in like activities and threaten Japan any more if Japan made a decision, Nakagawa said.

forward Sept. 3, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori revealed the unseen talks between Nakagawa and Kang, following a North Korean beseech for a summit meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Mori.

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