A senior South Korean official expressed "understanding and cooperation" for Japan's latest effort to get closure on North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals.

First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae Yong made the comments Wednesday during talks with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said. It gave no further details about the South Korean side's message of support.

Saiki is believed to have spoken with Seoul about Japan's dispatch of a delegation to the North to assess Pyongyang's progress on its promise to reinvestigate what happened to Japanese listed as abducted or missing.