A secret mission to Pyongyang last fall by a close aide of then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda led to Japan-North Korea talks being held in Mongolia in mid-November amid disagreements over the abduction issue, a source said.
During the mission, which lasted from late October until early November, the aide met with senior North Korean officials and Pyongyang indicated its willingness to set up a joint investigation panel to look into the fate of Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the source.
The aide, who was connected to the then-ruling Democratic Party of Japan, apparently exchanged opinions with the North Korean side on the return to Japan of Japanese nationals who could possibly be alive in North Korea, including abductees.