The meeting on the Cold War kidnappings will take place in Pyongyang in mid-November, following two unsuccessful rounds in Beijing in the past two months, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.

"We can expect great progress" because the venue allows more direct and immediate responses to Japan's inquiries, the top government spokesman said at a news conference.

Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Akitaka Saiki, deputy director general, will be the main participants.

Tokyo will apply a policy of "dialogue and pressure" on North Korea during the talks, he said, citing increasing domestic pressure for economic sanctions to be placed on Pyongyang.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 16, 2004
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