Prefectural police in Fukui and Niigata obtained arrest warrants Thursday for North Korean agents Sin Guang Su and Choe Sung Chol (phonetic spelling) on suspicion of abducting Japanese nationals in 1978, and are waiting for a warrant on another operative suspected of abducting two other Japanese the same year.
The National Police Agency plans to put Sin, 76, and Choe on the international wanted list through Interpol as early as next week, officials said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a press conference Thursday that Japan plans to demand in bilateral talks that North Korea hand the agents over.