Pyongyang has asked Japan to send government officials to North Korea in a secret contact related to its probe into past abductions of Japanese nationals, proposing that the officials meet with "survivors," a source close to bilateral relations said Sunday.

Tokyo has apparently turned down the offer, considering the possibility that the "survivors" may not actually include abduction victims, though Japan views the proposal as indicating that North Korea intends to make Pyongyang the venue for handing over its first report on the abduction probe.

The government was apparently also cautious that the meeting could be used by North Korea to "draw a curtain" on the cases of Japanese nationals who were abducted by Pyongyang agents in the 1970s and 1980s.