Japan on Wednesday held a second day of talks with North Korea on the progress of a probe into missing Japanese nationals, with the focus of the discussions expected to shift to issues such as the remains of Japanese who died after the end of World War II in what is now North Korean territory.
A government delegation is also believed to have heard from North Korea about its probe into Japanese citizens who remained there after the end of the war, as well as the Japanese wives of pro-Pyongyang Korean residents of Japan who moved to North Korea under a 1959-1984 repatriation project.
Kim Hyon Chol, department director of North Korea's Ministry of Land and Environment Protection, who heads a subcommittee responsible for the remains of Japanese nationals, said at the outset of the meeting that a "full investigation was conducted" into the graves of Japanese citizens, the buried remains and burial sites.