North Korea and Japan have kicked off three days of talks in Stockholm, with the fate of Japanese nationals kidnapped decades ago by Pyongyang set to top the agenda.
The meeting in the Swedish capital takes place after the two countries held their first official talks in 16 months in China in March, addressing a range of subjects including the abduction issue, recent missile launches and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Prior to the discussions at a small Stockholm hotel on Monday, the two delegations of eight appeared briefly in front of the media, the majority Japanese reporters flown in for the occasion.
Wearing stern expressions and making no eye contact with each other, the groups welcomed the opportunity to talk.
"Over the next three days, we want to hold forward-looking talks, based on issues we raised at the government talks in Beijing," said Japanese chief delegate Junichi Ihara.
"We also want to make an effort to push for a resolution of various issues as much as possible by frankly and seriously discussing broad matters of mutual interest."
His North Korean counterpart Song Il Ho, wearing a bright red and gold badge with the image of the country's leader Kim Jong-Un and his grandfather Kim Il-Sung, said "we hope to hold sincere, deep and wide-ranged talks on relations between North Korea and Japan".
The Japanese side is expected to tell the North Koreans it is willing to lift some economic sanctions imposed on the hermit state if it is convinced Pyongyang is making a serious effort to investigate what happened to those kidnapped and still unaccounted for, Kyodo News said earlier, citing unnamed sources.
North Korea's approach to its dealings with Japan appears to have softened, especially on the emotive issue of abductions.
It triggered outrage when it admitted more than a decade ago that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies in Japanese language and customs.
Five of the abductees were allowed to return to Japan but Pyongyang has insisted, without producing solid evidence, that the eight others are dead.
"Needless to say, the abduction issue is one of the nation's biggest concerns," Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said last week when announcing the Stockholm meeting.
"We would like to draw their positive response."
Sweden is considered an unusual choice for a venue but it is seen as a neutral country by both sides, observers said. It has had diplomatic relations with North Korea since 1973, and represents the interests of US citizens in North Korea in the absence of diplomatic ties between Washington and Pyongyang.
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