According to the Asahi report, the Japanese government finalized three countermeasure steps on the abduction issue prior to entering negotiations currently underway with North Korea. The three steps are: 1. Japan demands the initial return of eight family members of five abductees still residing in Pyongyang; 2. Normalization negotiations will resume when the eight family members arrive in Japan; 3. Japan calls for the establishment of an investigation institution, and demands that North Korea confirm the whereabouts of 10 kidnapped people whom North Korea insists are dead or never brought to North Korea.

If North Korea asks that the five abductees pick up their eight family members at Pyongyang Airport as a condition to sending back the eight family members, the Japanese government has decided to consider the requests for the moment. North Korea and Japan have not held normalization talks since October 2002, due to the two countries' dissenting opinions on the abduction issues.

Meanwhile, a Japanese delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka held talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il on Thursday, but no substantial or significant agreements were made. North Korean officials only criticized Japan for revising the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law in order to independently place economic sanctions on North Korea, and did not give any earnest or concrete responses to Japan's demand on repatriating Japanese abductees, according to Japanese officials. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi assumed a prudent attitude, saying in a press conference Friday morning that no presupposition should be made, since one more day of negotiation is left before the Japanese delegation returns to Japan. (Jung Kwon-hyun, khjung@chosun.com )