Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's Cabinet on Oct. 9 approved the extension of some of Japan's sanctions on North Korea for another six months starting Oct. 14 and continued to seek a breakthrough on the issues of Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and abductions of Japanese nationals.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. JAPAN TIMES PHOTO

The decision to extend the sanctions, including a ban on all North Korean-flagged ships entering Japanese ports and all imports from the country, came on the first anniversary of North Korea's nuclear test.

"We decided that the extension was necessary after comprehensively taking into consideration that there has been no specific progress in the abduction issue as well as the various conditions surrounding North Korea, including the nuclear issue," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.

Tokyo imposed the sanctions after the nuclear test announcement in October last year and had extended the measures once in April.

On media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun during their summit talks that there are no more abducted Japanese in North Korea, Machimura said if North Korea wants to make such an assertion, it should do so clearly in the course of bilateral contacts with Japan.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura downplayed reports that Kim considers the abduction issue closed, saying, "That is something which North Korea has always been saying and which we cannot accept."

The foreign minsiter reiterated Japan's demand that all missing abductees be returned.