North Korea told Japan last week that it plans to question its agents who abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, according to sources familiar with relations between the two countries.

In past discussions Pyongyang had said most of those responsible for the abductions were dead.

However, the sources said North Korea's special investigation committee made the promise during talks in Pyongyang on Oct. 28 and 29 with a Japanese delegation headed by Junichi Ihara, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.