North Korea appears eager to find out Japan's "criteria" for resolving Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals in the late 1970s and early 1980s, government sources said Wednesday.
The North is understood to have expressed a desire to know the purported Japanese criteria during unofficial talks with two senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party in Dalian, China, last week, the sources said.
The two LDP members -- Taku Yamasaki, former LDP vice president and secretary general, and House of Representatives member Katsuei Hirasawa -- got the impression that North Korea is interested in knowing if Japan is willing to put an end to the abduction row if Pyongyang allows the eight family members of five repatriated abductees to go to Japan.