Officials from Japan and North Korea failed to reach an agreement on whether to reinvestigate the abduction of Japanese nationals, following three days of "serious discussions" in Stockholm.

However, the two sides plan to continue talks on that issue and others, a senior Japanese official suggested on Wednesday.

Junichi Ihara, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the Foreign Ministry, told reporters he raised the issue of the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s, and that North Korea did not reject talks on the matter as it did during the previous session in late March in Beijing.