The Liberal Democratic Party has printed an English-language brochure to drum up support from foreign diplomats in Japan to try to solve the alleged abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea, LDP lawmakers have said.

They said Saturday the LDP began distributing 3,000 copies of the six-page brochure to foreign diplomatic establishments in Tokyo and elsewhere.

Former Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama gave a copy to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during his recent visit to Japan with President George W. Bush.

"As long as we have no prospects for progress in bilateral talks with North Korea, it is necessary to gain understanding and support from the United States, the European Union and other members of the international community," a senior LDP lawmaker said.

The brochure says, "We express, both to the people of Japan and the international community, our strong resolve that there should be no normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea without a resolution of the abduction issue."

The LDP, the dominant member of the three-party governing coalition with New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, said it plans to distribute the brochures at international conferences and on other occasions.

Last Monday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raised the issue of the alleged abductions in talks with Bush in Tokyo. Diplomatic sources have taken Koizumi's reference to the alleged abductions to indicate an indirect request from Tokyo for U.S. help in the matter.

Bush told Koizumi that the international community should cooperate in helping countries like North Korea change their behavior, the officials said.

The Japanese government believes that 10 Japanese nationals were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, allegations that Pyongyang denies.

Pyongyang agreed to search for what it calls the "missing persons," but the North Korean Red Cross informed Japan in December that it had suspended the search.