Tokyo says North Korea delays abduction probe

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
North Korea has informed Japan it will not open a panel to investigate the abduction of Japanese in the 1970s and '80s until Japan has installed a new prime minister, Japan's foreign minister said Friday. North Korea has told Tokyo it will suspend the launch of the probe until it has determined the policy of a new Japanese administration, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said. "We are extremely disappointed by this news," Komura said. Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced on Monday that he will resign, and a new leader is expected to be named later this month. The abduction issue has long been a thorn in relations between Japan and North Korea. Pyongyang has admitted its agents abducted Japanese citizens to train its spies, but Tokyo claims the communist country has yet to give a full account of how many were taken.