Japan and North Korea will hold talks next week in China on Pyongyang's inquiry into the Japanese victims of its abductions of foreign nationals, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said.
Junichi Ihara, head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador for negotiations to normalize bilateral relations, will meet Monday in Shenyang, Kishida told reporters Wednesday in New York.
Ihara will ask Song to explain why North Korea has failed to release its first report on the reinvestigation of the whereabouts of people Pyongyang abducted decades ago, Kishida said.