Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may visit North Korea sometime next month in a bid to resolve the issue of Japanese abductees in the North.

Japan’s Asahi Weekly said Wednesday that Hatoyama is considering visiting the communist state in the beginning to the middle of next month, shortly after the extra parliamentary session of the Diet ends.

The weekly was quoting a senior official of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan who is close to the party’s secretary-general, Ichiro Ozawa.

The magazine said Hatoyama was originally scheduled to visit the North in November. However, the North canceled the plan after South and North Korean navies clashed in a skirmish on the Yellow Sea on November tenth.

Asahi said Tokyo and Pyongyang launched discussions on a visit to the North by Hatoyama due to the communist state’s keen interest in the “Asia-centered” diplomatic policy of Japan’s new administration.