Russia urges Japan not to place abduction issue on agenda of North Korean nuclear talks

BEIJING, July 26 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian delegation to the six-sided talks on the North Korean nuclear problem urged Japanese diplomats not to raise the issue of Japanese abductions by Pyongyang's secret services many years ago.

"This can only thwart the attainment of concrete results in talks that are aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Alexander Alexeyev, the Russian deputy foreign minister and head of the Russian delegation, said after a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae.

The Japanese delegation was going to discuss the abductions by North Korean secret agents that occurred in the 1970s-1980s, although Pyongyang had officially apologized and promised not to allow similar incidents in the future. Moreover, abduction victims who survived and their relatives have managed to return to Japan.

"Despite the fact that this problem is very important for bilateral relations between North Korea and Japan, it would be unreasonable to place it on the agenda," Alexeyev said.

Delegations from Russia, the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, and Japan are attending the Beijing talks.