CORRECTED: Lower house panel to convene special session on abduction March 3

Japan Policy & Politics, March 1, 2004

TOKYO, Feb. 25 Kyodo

A key Diet committee will convene a special session March 3 to discuss the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese based on the outcome of ongoing six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, a senior lawmaker said Wednesday.

The House of Representatives Budget Committee plans to hold the session as a half-day one, Hidenao Nakagawa who heads the Diet Affairs Committee of the dominant Liberal Democratic Party, told a press conference.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi could join the deliberations, other key lawmakers said.

The six nations -- China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and the United States -- started Wednesday the second round of the multilateral talks on the nuclear issue. The multilateral talks are expected to continue until Friday at the earliest.

The issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s is not a main topic in the six-party talks.

Japan raised the issue during a plenary session of the talks Wednesday and is seeking to achieve a breakthrough through bilateral talks with North Korea on the sidelines of the six-nation talks.