Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Japan, which made no progress in last week's meeting with North Korea on the issue of abducted Japanese nationals, will request more talks with the North Korean government, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.

Japan will make its request when the two nations are in Beijing for six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program that begin Feb. 25, Fukuda said.

``Our country's basic stance is that we'd like to have continued talks to solve the problems using all possible opportunities,'' Fukuda said, speaking at a regularly scheduled news conference in Tokyo. Japanese officials at last week's talks in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, reported they were ``quite tough,'' Fukuda said.

North Korea at the weekend told Japan it shouldn't raise the issue of kidnappings when the six-nation talks are held. Japan will be shut out of the talks in the event it brings up the question, the official Korean Central News Agency said, citing the North Korean Foreign Ministry.

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday instructed the Japanese diplomats involved in the talks in Pyongyang to try to arrange another round at an early date, Kyodo News reported.

Japan has determined it would be difficult to discuss the issue at the six-way talks, Kyodo reported, citing unidentified Japanese government officials.

North Korea abducted Japanese people in the 1970s and 1980s to use them as language instructors for the communist country's spy training program. Five of the victims were sent back to Japan in October 2002. Their children, and in one case, a husband, were left behind. North Korea hasn't revealed what happened to other kidnapping victims.

To contact the reporter for this story: Keiichi Yamamura in Tokyo kyamamura@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 15, 2004 22:59 EST