Japan has urged North Korea to stick to its moratorium on testing ballistic missiles, a Japanese embassy spokesman said on Sunday, after officials raised "serious concerns" over reports that Pyongyang may be preparing to test a new missile. Japanese officials reminded their North Korean counterparts of Pyongyang's declaration in September 2002 that it would maintain its moratorium on missile tests, the spokesman said. "Today, also, they conveyed serious concerns to the North Korean side," he said. But the North Korean foreign ministry officials who attended the talks in Beijing said they were "not well aware of what is going on" concerning preparations for a missile test. "So the Japanese side asked them to convey our concerns to the North Korean authorities," the spokesman said. The Japanese and North Korean officials met in Beijing for talks aimed mainly at resolving a long-running dispute over the apparent abduction of Japanese nationals to North Korea. The embassy spokesman said Japanese officials asked more questions on the 10 Japanese who remain missing since they were kidnapped to communist North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. It is widely believed that the Japanese were kidnapped to train North Korean agents for espionage purposes. --more 1506 Local Time 1206 GMT
