Three local assemblies in Kyushu separately adopted written opinions Thursday pressing the central government to fully investigate North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens.

The written opinions, unanimously adopted by the Nagasaki Municipal Assembly and the Kagoshima and Kumamoto prefectural assemblies, will be sent to the central government.

The opinion adopted by the Kagoshima demands a thorough investigation into the abductions, severe punishment of those who were behind them, and the return of the abductees confirmed to be alive in the communist state. Unless these steps are achieved, Japan should not resume normalization talks with North Korea, it says.

Two of the eight abductees confirmed dead by North Korea -- Shuichi Ichikawa and Rumiko Masumoto -- came from Kagoshima.

Ichikawa, who was 23 when he disappeared, worked at a public corporation.

Masumoto, 24 at the time of her disappearance, was an office clerk.

The couple vanished from the town of Fukiage, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Aug. 12, 1978, after telling relatives they were going to the shore to watch the sunset.

In addition to those demands, the Kumamoto assembly adopted an opinion calling on the central government to demand North Korea pay compensation to the abductees' next of kin.

Kaoru Matsuki, one of the eight abductees, was from Kumamoto Prefecture. He was 26 when he disappeared in Europe in 1980 after traveling to Spain.

Nagasaki's written opinion carries similar demands.

Abductee Tadaaki Hara came from the city and was a cook in Osaka. Hara, 43 at the time of his disappearance, vanished in June 1980 from the city of Miyazaki. A South Korean court ruled in 1985 that North Korean agent Sin Guang Ju had abducted Hara and taken him by ship to North Korea from Miyazaki. In August, the NPA put Sin on an international wanted list on suspicion of acquiring a Japanese passport by posing as Hara.

Judo meet suffers

SAPPORO (Kyodo) A Hokkaido judo club for North and South Korean residents in Japan will not attend a judo meet following revelations that eight Japanese who were abducted to North Korea are dead, a Hokkaido judo association said Thursday.

According to the association, the team, which was to be the first-ever unified group of Koreans to attend an official meet in Japan, elected to skip the event in the city of Chitose, Hokkaido, on Sunday in consideration of the feelings of Japanese following the news.

Established in June, the club had planned to send four members from Sapporo who are North or South Korean residents in Japan or naturalized Japanese citizens, the association said.

The club had hoped Tuesday's historic summit in Pyongyang between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il would mark a turning point in improving bilateral relations as well as moves to reunify the Korean Peninsula.

"We voluntarily decided to cancel our participation in the meet in consideration of the sorrow Japanese are feeling," said Pak Kyong Song, 47, a leader of the club. "I feel strong indignation that suspicions about the abductions were actually fact."

During the talks, Kim informed Japan of the deaths of eight Japanese nationals who were kidnapped to the North in the 1970s and 1980s, and apologized for the abductions.

Fifth survivor female?

The unnamed Japanese person North Korea admits abducting but Tokyo was apparently unaware of is a woman, sources said Thursday.

The National Police Agency is expected to launch a nationwide check to see if there are any people listed as missing who match the survivor's description when it is provided, the sources said.

During the summit Tuesday between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, Kim said four people on the Japanese government's list of those believed abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s were alive, as well the unnamed individual, who was not on the list.