North Korea says progress in the ongoing nuclear talks in Beijing might be a stepping-stone in solving the issue of Japanese abductees.

North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said Wednesday that talks on the matter with Japan was tied to the outcome of the ongoing six way talks and a possible improvement in relations with the United States.

Kim, Pyongyangs chief delegate to the six-way talks, made the remarks in a bilateral meeting with the Japanese delegation to discuss the issue concerning the Norths kidnapping of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 80s.

The two sides agreed to take up the issue again but did not fix a specific date.

In the Wednesdays talks, Japan repeated its demand North Korea return the families of five kidnapped Japanese nationals while North Korea has insisted Japan return the five Japanese back to the North first.
North Korea has admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese for training spies in Japanese language and culture. Eight of them were alleged to have died.