Japan calls on NKorea to probe kidnap victims

Japan called Friday on North Korea to live up to its pledge to investigate the fate of Japanese abducted by Pyongyang agents amid a report the communist state will rescind the deal.

North Korea had agreed in June to start a new probe to account for Japanese abducted in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies, a top priority for Japan which has pressed the issue in six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

But the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper, quoting unnamed diplomats, said Friday that North Korea has told China it will end the agreement as it has seen no benefits from it.

"We don't know what kind of exchanges took place between North Korea and China," Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said of the report. "The government has heard nothing about it from China."

"We want (North Korea) to start the comprehensive investigation soon," he said.

Pyongyang in September told Tokyo that it will delay the investigation due to the change of government in Japan after then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda quit due to low approval ratings.

Fukuda, a dove who supports reconciliation with Asian countries, had promised to ease some sanctions in return for the new probe, under which Japanese investigators would be able to search in the tightly controlled state.

Nakasone said Tokyo would fulfill its promise to lift restrictions on North Koreans' entry to Japan and on charter flights once Pyongyang starts the probe.

But new Prime Minster Taro Aso is known to take a more hawkish view on North Korea than Fukuda. A senior official recently said Aso's government may consider new sanctions on Pyongyang.

The Sankei Shimbun said a senior North Korean official told a Chinese diplomat in September that "there are no benefits from resuming the probe."

"If we set up an investigation committee, whatever the results are wouldn't satisfy the Japanese public," the official was quoted as saying.

The Sankei said that China informed Japan of the conversation.

Japan has refused to provide aid to North Korea under the six-nation denuclearisation deal and was upset when the United States removed Pyongyang from a list of state sponsors of terrorism in October.

North Korea admitted to the abductions in 2002 and allowed five victims to go home, but Japan contends that more are being kept under wraps.