Japan says to keep sanctions on North Korea

TOKYO, Nov 1 (Reuters) Japan will maintain its sanctions on North Korea despite Pyongyang's agreement to return to stalled six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear programmes, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today.

Sanctions would not be lifted until the communist state committed to abandoning its nuclear ambitions and settled a dispute over Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies, Abe said.

''We have imposed our own sanctions against North Korea in response to its missile launches, nuclear test and because they have not acted sincerely over the issue of abductees,'' he told reporters.

''We will not end our sanctions until these issues are resolved,'' he said.

Japan first imposed punitive measures after Pyongyang fired off a barrage of test missiles in July and stepped them up after its nuclear test on October 9. They include a ban on imports and a prohibition on North Korean ships entering Japanese ports.

Tokyo has also been pressing Pyongyang to return kidnapped Japanese citizens. North Korea admitted in 2002 to abducting 13 Japanese, sent five of them back and said the other eight were dead. Japan wants more information about the eight reported dead and about other of its citizens it says were abducted and remain officially unaccounted for.

Earlier today, Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying it was too early to celebrate despite Pyongyang's agreement to return to the six-party talks after a year-long boycott.

''It is truly welcome that the talks are set to be resumed soon, but we cannot just celebrate and say 'That's great','' Kyodo news agency quoted Aso as telling parliament.

The six-way talks bring together North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Pyongyang confirmed in an official statement today that it would return to the talks.

REUTERS SP BST1643