Japan wants to break the current impasse and resume bilateral talks with North Korea to resolve Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.
"Japan continues to hope to put utmost efforts to resolve the abduction issue by strongly urging North Korea to resume talks. But the other side shows no sign of moving at the moment," Hosoda told a news conference.
He made the comments after a Japan-sponsored resolution urging North Korea to release all abductees was adopted Thursday at the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
"We would like to deal strongly with the country, persuading it to return to the six-party talks (on ending its nuclear threat) on one hand and seeking to resume Japan-North Korea talks on the other hand," he said.
Japan and North Korea have not met since their third round of talks on the abduction issue in November. Discontented with the results of those talks, Japan has warned North Korea of possible economic sanctions unless it deals faithfully with the issue.
In Geneva on Thursday, the U.N. Human Rights Commission urged North Korea to immediately release all foreign nationals it has kidnapped, calling the abductions "a grave violation of human rights."
Japan and the European Union jointly sponsored a draft for the resolution.