Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Japan, seeking help from the international community over North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese nationals, will raise the issue at the United Nations General Assembly next Tuesday, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

North Korean secret agents abducted Japanese people during the 1970s and 1980s to use them as language teachers for the country's spy-training program, North Korea's government said in September last year. The announcement was made when Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the country.

North Korea allowed five kidnap victims to return last October for what was intended as a temporary visit. The North Korean government has refused Japan's request to hand over family members of the returnees and provide information on 10 other victims it said were dead.

A Japanese government official will address the General Assembly and call on North Korea to earnestly deal with the situation, according to Yomiuri, the largest-circulation newspaper in Japan. This is the first time Japan will bring up the subject at the UN, the newspaper said.

(Yomiuri, 9-18, p.1)

For the Yomiuri Web site, see {DYOL <GO>}

Last Updated: September 17, 2003 20:22 EDT