Foreign Ministry officials from Japan and North Korea recently held a secret meeting, most likely in China, to discuss the abduction issue, a source close to bilateral ties said Saturday.

The meeting came as Tokyo and Pyongyang are making arrangements for the first report on a newly launched investigation into the whereabouts of Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

While disagreements remain between the two sides over the quid pro quo expected by Pyongyang in return for its upcoming report, there is a growing possibility that the report may come in the third week of September or later, rather than the second week, as Japanese officials had expected.