BEIJING —

A veteran lawmaker of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party met with North Korean officials Tuesday in Beijing, a source knowledgeable about Japan-North Korea relations said Wednesday. Taku Yamasaki, who is in Beijing to attend Olympic events, visited the North Korean Embassy in the Chinese capital and met with embassy officials, according to the source. The content of their discussion was not immediately known. But the meeting came shortly after Japan and North Korea agreed on the terms of a reinvestigation Pyongyang has promised to carry out into abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Under the agreement reached at working-level talks earlier this month, North Korea will conduct the probe swiftly and try to complete it by the fall. Japan and North Korea are divided over the number of Japanese abductees and the fates of some of them, including whether they are still alive.

Kyodo

3 Comments

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  rajakumar at 11:29 PM JST - 20th August

  Japan and north korea have dialogues. More dialogues the better for all.

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  some14some at 11:53 PM JST - 20th August

  Nothing significant, just Taku Yamasaki enjoying personal friendship with some of NK officials

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  rajakumar at 06:51 PM JST - 21st August

  Personal friendships in North koreans is best way to break the ice to better north korea.

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