The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Saturday that it wants a Korean Peninsula free from nuclear weapons, visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said.

Koizumi said the statement was made by the top leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-il, in talks with him.

Kim also said the DPRK is willing to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through six-party talks, according to the Japanese prime minister.

Earlier Saturday, Kim and Koizumi held an hour and a half talks on normalizing relations and other bilateral issues in the morning.

In the meeting, the DPRK agreed to let five family members of Japan abductees go to Japan, a move widely seen as a breakthrough in relations between the two countries.

For its part, Japan agreed to extend 250,000 tons of food aid and 10 million US dollars worth of medical supplies and humanitarian aid to the DPRK.

It is the second summit between Koizumi and Kim since the two leaders met in Pyongyang in September 2002, when Koizumi launched a historic visit to the DPRK and signed the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration.

The DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency said earlier that Koizumi's meeting with Kim was intended to "restore the relations of confidence between the two countries." Japan and the DPRK has not established diplomatic ties so far.

Source: Xinhua