Japan eases N.Korea sanctions

Diplomats from the two countries having been holding talks in Beijing this week about abductions and recent missile launches. Japan's Kyodo News agency reported that the decision to partially lift sanctions was motivated by North Korea's efforts to give real authority to an abduction probe panel it is setting up.

The panel includes a powerful Defense Commission member, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

"We have concluded that an unprecedented scheme that can make national decisions has been established. In accordance with the principle of action to action, we will lift part of the measures taken by Japan," Abe told reporters on Thursday.

Japan says that dozens - or even hundreds - of its people were snatched by North Korean spies to train their agents in language and customs during the 1970s and 1980s. Japan and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic ties and relations between the two have been frosty for decades.

Lost people

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens to train its spies in Japanese language and customs.

Five of the abductees returned home but Pyongyang said - without producing credible evidence - that the eight others had died, provoking uproar in Japan.

Media reports on Thursday said Tokyo will lift a ban on North Koreans entering Japan, waive requirements carry large amounts of cash into the country, and end the prohibition on some North Korean ships entering Japanese ports.

The decision comes at a time of persistent international concern over the North's nuclear programs and missile tests.

bk/jr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)