Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that North Korea has asked Japanese officials to visit Pyongyang to receive the latest information on its probe into the fate of Japanese abductees.
Abe was revealing the results of a meeting Monday in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang after he was briefed by Junichi Ihara, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.
Ihara met for 4½ hours with a North Korean delegation led by Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador for negotiations to normalize relations with Japan.