Two days of talks between Japanese and North Korean officials in Beijing ended on Friday without agreement on the North's demands for compensation for colonial-era oppression, or answers to Tokyo's questions about the abduction of its citizens by Pyongyang's spies.
The two sides did say they would meet again to discuss obstacles to forming diplomatic relations following their first full-scale talks in more than a year.
"Although there were some very serious arguments during the talks ... still we agreed that these working-level talks were profitable, and we decided that we will arrange more talks in the future," said Akitaka Saiki, head of Tokyo's delegation and the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia specialist.
Japan proposed setting up working groups with North Korea to discuss outstanding issues, such as the kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as security matters, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported.
Japan also wants North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
"Although North Korea's position differs [from Tokyo's], Japan's basic stance remains unchanged -- to seek sincere responses from the North Korean side to resolve the abduction and nuclear issues," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in Tokyo.
Japanese media quoted the chief North Korean diplomat as saying contacts would continue.
"For two days, we held sincere discussions on settling past issues and other topics of interest to both countries," Japanese broadcaster NHK quoted the official, Song Il-ho, as saying.
"We differ on some issues, but we arrived at a common understanding that issues of the past need to be resolved. How we tackle this issue will be discussed between the two governments," Song said.
"As for the abduction issue, our opinions remain divided," he said.
North Korea in 2002 admitted abducting 13 Japanese citizens and allowed five to return to Japan. It said the remaining eight had died, but Tokyo wants proof, and many in Japan believe some may be alive.
Meanwhile, families of Japanese civilians kidnapped by the North during the Cold War expressed disappointment yesterday in the lack of progress made in the talks.
"We had hoped to hear good news this time, ? we are disappointed to know that no progress has been made," said Shigeru Yokota, whose daughter Megumi was abducted by North Korea in 1977 at age 13.
"But we will continue to trust the government and closely watch developments of negotiations in the future," Yokota said in a street speech in Kawasaki, southwest of Tokyo.
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