A pro-North Korean newspaper based in Japan said Tuesday that North Korea is not holding any South Korean prisoners of war or abductees against their will, adding that it is thus not right to address the matter separately from the family reunion issue.

The Choson Sinbo quoted North Korean Red Cross Vice President Choe Song-il as saying that "No POWs or abductees exist in North Korea. If South Korea broaches the issue again, we will have something to say about 83,000 North Korean POWs held in the South at the time of signing a truce."

During inter-Korean Red Cross talks held last month, the South proposed formation of a body to address the issue of POWs and abductees apart from the existing family reunion program. But the North Korean side rejected the idea.

Seoul says that 548 South Korean soldiers were taken prisoner during the Korean War, and that 485 more civilians have been abducted to the North since the cease-fire began in 1953. Pyongyang rejects such claims, saying that those who went North did so of their own will.