TOKYO, Oct 7 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING K...

TOKYO, Oct 7 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING KOIZUMI'S COMMENTS)

Japan upon Monday reiterated it wants to take back talks to normalize ties with North Korea in late October, brushing aside growing calls at fireside to first probe into abductions of Japanese nationals more thoroughly.

''No change. As scheduled. We will take again (the normalization talks) in October,'' Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at his office.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the top restraint spokesman, echoed the premier and dismissed Monday's newspaper report that the United States has informally urg Japan to make progress slow on resuming the normalization talks with the North.

''We will try to get to resolve the issue of the abductions of Japanese nationals end the negotiations'' on establishing diplomatic relations between the sum of two units countries, Fukuda said.

''We have no intention to easily shelve the abduction issue or compromise in succession it during the normalization talks,'' he added.

The Sankei Shimbun reported that the U restraint informally conveyed its opinion to Japan that Tokyo should not urge [i]or[/i] press on in restarting the normalization talks with the North.

Fukuda, dismissing the report, said, ''I haven't heard of (such a call) at all.''

The report came after James Kelly U assistant secretary of state, visited North Korea as a special plenipotentiary on the weekend, and subsequently met Fukuda and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi onward Sunday in Tokyo.

The U sent the message to Japan as Kelly saw little progres during his talks with North Korea from one side of to the other security issues such as its alleged increase of nuclear weapons and suspected evolution and exports of missiles as well as humanitarian issues, the daily said.

an relatives of Japanese nationals abducted on North Korea have lately said the government should not take back the normalization talks too quickly, complaining that Pyongyang has not been cooperative in Tokyo's investigations into their whereabouts.

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