North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has told a senior Chinese official that there are "positive movements" in the relationship between Pyongyang and Tokyo.

Kim made the remark Monday during a meeting with Wang Jiarui, head of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, in Pyongyang, the daily Mainichi Shimbun reported in its Friday morning edition.

North Korea has recently made reconciliatory overtures toward Japan, particularly on the issue of its past abductions of Japanese nationals.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday that Tokyo has been informed of the remark but remained cautious as to its significance.

To prevent North Korea from taking the initiative in any negotiations, the Foreign Ministry is apparently not making any official reaction to the remark that would indicate Japan has raised its hopes for a resumption of bilateral dialogue.

"I am aware that there are several (positive) movements" concerning North Korea, Kawaguchi said. "But on the other hand, North Korea has yet to agree to launch bilateral talks" on the abduction issue.

North Korean officials told Japanese lawmakers during a meeting in Beijing last month that their government was ready to allow the families of five former abductees who were allowed to return to Japan in October 2002 to "visit" Japan, provided the returnees come to Pyongyang airport to meet them. The return of the five was ostensibly for a visit as well, and Pyongyang has demanded that they come back to the North.

Foreign Ministry officials visited Pyongyang last week to meet with a Japanese man taken into custody there for alleged drug trafficking.

Such moves have raised expectations within the Japanese government that talks to discuss conditions and procedures for sending the offspring of the five returnees, and the American husband of one of them, to Japan may be scheduled soon.

"We had been worried that the matter of the abductions might remain unresolved while only discussions of (North Korea's) nuclear (arms) program would make headway," said an official who asked not to be named. "But that may not be the case."

Kawaguchi said Friday the government still seeks a comprehensive resolution on all issues concerning North Korea.