Japan would be willing to allow the five Japanese who returned to their homeland after being abducted to North Korea decades ago to fly to Pyongyang airport to collect their relatives, as long as they do not get off the plane, a senior government official said Friday.

This compromise was first suggested by Toru Hasuike, elder brother of former abductee Kaoru Hasuike, after North Korean officials told a group of Japanese lawmakers in December that they would send the returnees' kin to Japan if the five traveled to the airport to meet them.

At the time, the government snubbed the North Korean proposal as unworthy of consideration unless it was to be conveyed via official channels.

Meanwhile, the former abductees and their families were initially split over the idea, though they later agreed that it was unacceptable.

While indicating that there was room for compromise, the senior official underscored Friday the need for Pyongyang to agree to send off all eight family members of the five returnees, even if some of them should express a wish to stay at the airport.

Senior Japanese officials are currently holding bilateral talks in Pyongyang, and the abduction issue is high on their agenda.

The Foreign Ministry said the Japanese delegation held talks with Kang Soku Ju, first vice foreign minister and a close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, earlier Friday. Kang ranks higher than the officials whom the Japanese officials met the previous day.

The first signs that concessions were being discussed came earlier Friday, when Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said Japan would be willing to let the five former abductees visit Pyongyang airport to pick up their family members if they wish to do so.

"We believe that the five victims want to stay (in Japan, rather) than go to Pyongyang," Takashima said. Asked whether the government would let them make the trip, Takashima said, "It is up to them."

If North Korea tables the proposal during the ongoing talks, the first official government-to-government talks since October 2002, Japan is likely to ask the returnees' opinions on the issue after the delegation returns to Japan.

Government officials are worried that the families of the five will not be able to freely express their desire to come to Japan if they are still in North Korea.

Japan is also concerned that North Korea may attempt to draw the curtain on the abduction issue after the families are reunited with the five, something the government and a group of abductees' families cannot accept.

Tokyo has demanded a further explanation with regard to 10 other Japanese who were allegedly kidnapped to North Korea.

It also wants the daughter of Megumi Yokota, another abductee whom the North has admitted kidnapping, to be sent to Japan.

But while Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has said that Japan is seeking to make headway on these issues, the senior government official said Friday that they may take more time.