Tokyo and Pyongyang have agreed to resume bilateral talks -- stalled since last November -- to resolve various issues, including the abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.
North Korea's nuclear threat, however, may not be among the issues, as Pyongyang, in an apparent flip-flop from a vow made Monday to abandon its atomic weapons quest, said Tuesday it will pursue them until it is given a light-water reactor.
The date, venue and level of the bilateral dialogue will be decided through diplomatic channels, but Tokyo seeks to resume talks as soon as possible, Machimura told a hastily arranged news conference.