N. Korea to delay abduction probe

TOKYO, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The Japanese foreign ministry said Friday North Korea will suspend its reinvestigation of abducted Japanese nationals until Tokyo has a new prime minister.

Foreign Minster Masahiko Komura said the communist country wants to know the policy of the new administration before launching its reinvestigation of abductees, a critical factor in Japan-North Korea relations that has become a major issue in the six-country talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization.

Komura said North Korea conveyed its position after Japan urged it set to up the reinvestigation panel at an early date as promised last month, despite the resignation this week of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Kyodo news service reported.

Komura said the North Koreans, while noting the August promise, also said "given the circumstances of the Japanese side, they will refrain from launching the investigation panel until they recognize the position of a new Japanese government on the implementation of the accord."

In the August agreement reached in Beijing, Japan promised to lift some of its sanctions after North Korea opened its reinvestigation.

Japan says North Korea abducted at least 17 of its nationals in the 1970s and 1980s. North Korea says of the 13 abductees, five were returned to Japan 2002 and eight had died.