April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Japan will extend sanctions against North Korea for six months after the communist country failed to make progress on returning abducted citizens and dismantling its nuclear program, the government's top spokesman said.

The government will announce details of the extension tomorrow following cabinet approval, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said during a press conference in Tokyo. Japan banned imports from North Korea and barred its ships from calling on Japanese ports after North Korea test-fired missiles and a nuclear device in 2006.

``We consider it appropriate to extend sanctions because North Korea didn't take concrete, positive actions,'' Machimura said. The last extension of the sanctions is set to expire April 13.

North Korean officials acknowledged abducting 13 Japanese citizens in September 2002. Japanese leaders say North Korean agents abducted 17 of its citizens in 1970s and 1980s to train them as spies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo at thirokawa@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 10, 2008 04:20 EDT