Japan plans to send officials to North Korea to obtain firsthand information in connection with a reinvestigation being conducted by Pyongyang into the fate of abductees, diplomatic sources said Sunday.
The government, frustrated with the North's lack of clarity regarding its promised "full-scale" probe, is expected to decide to send a delegation after a meeting Monday with ruling and opposition party members in charge of the issue, according to the sources.
Most relatives of the missing as well as Hitomi Soga, one of five former Japanese abductees repatriated by North Korea, have expressed their opposition to the trip, proposed by Pyongyang in September.