North Korea and Japan will hold government-level talks in Beijing on Wednesday.

The talks will focus on recovering the remains of Japanese people who died in the North during World War Two. Attention is also being drawn to whether the two sides will discuss the issue of Japanese abductees in the North.

The last time North Korea and Japan’s governments held talks was in 2008. Such talks are the first of its kind to be held since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power and since Kim Jong-un assumed the North’s leadership.

The talks come after North Korea and Japanese Red Cross officials held talks on recovering Japanese people’s remains in the North during talks held between August ninth and tenth.