Japan to press Pyongyang on abduction issue

Japan is set to use a UN gathering to press North Korea about its probe into a fate of a Japanese national abducted by Pyongyang, the media reported on Monday.

North Korea told Japan in September 2014 that its special investigative committee will complete its probe into the fate of abductees and other Japanese missing in the country in about one year, NHK news agency reported.

Japan will send Secretary General Shoichiro Ishikawa of the government's headquarters on the abduction issue to UN panel discussions in Geneva later on Monday. The meeting will deal with human rights violations by North Korea.

The Japanese government has already obtained the information. But it said North Korea has not notified Japan about the end of its probe.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that the government is working hard to prompt North Korea to take positive and concrete action.

He added the government will make every effort to realise the return of all the abductees.