Negotiators from Japan and DPRK Tuesday morning kicked off their first full-scale talks in two years.

The talks, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur,came as a result of last month's summit between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and DPRK leader Kim Jong-il.

"Although we gathered here for talks on normalizing ties, certainly, we are far apart," DPRK's chief negotiator Jong Thae-hwa told his Japanese counterpart Katsunari Suzuki at the opening of the talks.

"There are differences over various views. There are issues which cannot be solved without cooperation," Jong added.

Japanese officials said that during the two-day talks in Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo would press for progress on the emotional issue of Japanese citizens abducted by DPRK and try to win a pledge from Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons program.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Monday that Tokyo would not normalize ties with DPRK or give it economic aid unless Pyongyang abandoned its nuclear weapons program.

For its part, DPRK pressed for the settlement of issues stemming from Japan's harsh 35-year colonial rule of the Korean peninsula until 1945.

Koizumi apologized for Japan's actions at the September summit,but rejected DPRK's demand for reparations.

The two countries have yet to establish diplomatic ties. Previous attempts to normalize bilateral ties broke down two yearsago when the DPRK side denied its role in the abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago.

It is reported that Pyongyang's admission of the abductions last month cleared the way for the resumption of the stalled talks.

Koizumi said in Mexico on Monday that the coming talks would have "a great impact on peace and stability" in the region.

"We intend to make the talks comprehensive," he said, adding "we will discuss the abduction issue and security, as well as problems of the past, the present and the future."

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2002)