Japan never promised North Korea that it would send back the five former abductees after their return visit to Japan in 2002, Shinzo Abe, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, claimed Monday.
The five were abducted by North Korean agents in 1978 and returned to Japan in October 2002, following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang the previous month.
The government decided that the returnees would permanently settle in Japan and has urged Pyongyang to allow their family members to come to Japan. Pyongyang has meanwhile urged Tokyo to keep its "promise" and send the five back to North Korea, saying they were only meant to be in Japan on a temporary homecoming visit.
"It was not the case that our side promised to return them (to North Korea) two weeks after" their homecoming, Abe said. "It is impossible for us to (promise) such a thing."
The two governments did not exchange a formal letter outlining conditions for the former abductees' return, Abe said. Their homecoming was realized as part of efforts to build up a relationship of mutual trust between the two nations, he said.