Senior Japanese and DPRK government officials began full-fledged talks Wednesday in Pyongyang on the North's reinvestigation into the fates of Japanese abducted to DPRK, Japanese officials said.

In the third round of bilateral dialogue on the topic, DPRK is expected to report on the new findings from its reinvestigation following the previous working-level talks held in September in Beijing.

The Japanese team is then set to seek material evidence and testimony to back up the North's explanations on what has happened to 10 Japanese citizens who the Japanese government says were abducted to the North.

A member of DPRK's task force reinvestigating the abduction cases is to attend the Pyongyang talks, scheduled to run through Friday, according to the officials.

The 19-member Japanese delegation led by Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, also includes Yabunaka's deputy Akitaka Saiki and representatives of the National Police Agency and the government office supporting abduction victims and their families.

The DPRK team is led by Ma Chol Su, chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department. Song Il Ho, the department's vice director, is also taking part in the talks.

Source: Agencies