Japan tells N Korea to make decision on ties

HANOI, Mar 5 (Reuters) Japan urged North Korea today to make a ''strategic decision'' on resolving the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang agents when diplomats from both countries meet in Hanoi this week.

Tokyo's chief delegate arrived in the Vietnamese capital today for the March 7 and 8 talks that are part of a complex agreement reached by six countries last month under which communist North Korea promised to scrap its nuclear weapons programme in exchange for aid.

''Our stance has been that there will be no normalisation of ties if the abductee issue is not resolved,'' Koichi Haraguchi, Japan's top negotiator with North Korea, told reporters. He said he would ''convey this to North Korea and I will also seek from them to make a strategic decision on the abductee issue.'' His remarks echoed those of other Japanese officials in the run-up to the talks designed to move the two sides toward normalising diplomatic relations.

Japan is pressing for more information about people abducted in the 1970s and the 1980s, but North Korea says the matter is closed.

The North Korean delegation arrived in Hanoi yesterday.

''In terms of what problems we are going to discuss, because the summit hasn't started yet, I wouldn't like to talk about that just now,'' said delegation head Song Il-Ho.

Under the deal reached at February's six-party talks, North Korea would receive energy aid in exchange for closing a nuclear reactor, but Japan has refused to participate.

The Hanoi meeting and separate talks in New York today between the United States and North Korea are the beginning of the implementation of the February 13 deal reached in Beijing, officials said.

North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China reached agreement after three years of talks that were punctuated by a North Korean nuclear test last October.

Communist-run Vietnam, which has opened its economy and fostered international relations in recent years in contrast with its long-time ally North Korea, said it hoped the negotiations would contribute to peace and stability in the region.

REUTERS SP BST2232