Japanese premier in bid to free captives

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will travel to North Korea for talks with leader Kim Jong Il in hopes of winning the release of family members of Japanese citizens abducted decades ago, the government said today.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Koizumi would travel there on May 22. The talks will also include discussions of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes and other bilateral issues with the goal of eventually normalising relations between the two estranged neighbours, he said.