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KYOTO, Japan : Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight rich nations opened two days of talks in Japan Thursday set to focus on the North Korean and Iranian nuclear disputes.
Ministers of the eight nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- had a ceremonial welcome at a converted imperial palace in the western city of Kyoto, Japan's former capital.
The ministers, who include US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, were to hold a working dinner Thursday before holding a day of talks on Friday.
Rice called Thursday on North Korea to take Japan's concerns seriously in an abduction row that cast a shadow over a Group of Eight meeting here.
North Korea was expected Thursday to hand over a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear programmes under a six-nation disarmament deal.
The United States has agreed to then remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The timing is uncomfortable for G8 host Japan, which has long pressed Washington, its closest ally, to leave the North on the blacklist due to Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese civilians.
"We understand that this will probably take some time to resolve," Rice told reporters. "But we are continuing to expect progress."
"We're continuing to expect the North Koreans to take this issue seriously because it is a major issue for Japan and it's a major issue for the United States," Rice said.
North Korea in 2002 admitted kidnapping Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies in Japanese language and culture.
It freed five abductees and their families and said the case was closed. But in a reversal, it agreed earlier this month to reopen an investigation.
The compromise was widely linked to North Korea's desire to be taken off the terror blacklist, which would pave the way for it to receive US aid and international loans.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, known as a moderate, has been low-key in his reaction to the likely US delisting, saying Japan welcomes any steps to rid the communist state of its nuclear arsenal.
"We will be fully involved in this process as a responsible member of the six-party talks," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the spokesman for Fukuda's government.
"The Japanese government is considering measures to deal with the abduction issue. We have to talk with North Korea on how we will proceed," Machimura said.
US President George W. Bush telephoned Fukuda on Wednesday and told him he understood Japan's concerns.
But families of the abductees have voiced outrage, saying that the US move would be a serious blow to their efforts to pressure North Korea.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he would wait for the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate on the ground before France would consider establishing diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
"If everything goes as hoped, if the IAEA can give positive initial conclusions, then France will consider the next step," Kouchner told reporters.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura earlier said he also hoped the G8 meeting in Kyoto would send a strong message to Iran to halt its nuclear drive.
Iran has defied UN Security Council resolutions urging it to suspend uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make a nuclear weapon. The Islamic republic says the nuclear work is for peaceful purposes.
Komura also said the G8 ministers would discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has pressed on with plans for a run-off election Friday after his rival dropped out following violence.
- AFP /ls
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