Top negotiators from Japan, NKorea meet in Chinese city over abductions of Japanese nationals

Junichi Ihara, right, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceania Affairs Bureau, left, speaks to Song Il Ho, second left, North Korea's ambassador in charge of normalizing relations with Japan, during their meeting in Shenyang in northeastern China's Liaoning Province, Monday, Sept. 29, 2014. The Monday meeting by negotiators from North Korea and Japan for talks on the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents was expected to last only one day, with Japan expected to pressure the North Korean delegation to produce a preliminary report on the issue. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Kenzaburo Fukuhara) (The Associated Press)

Song Il Ho, left, North Korea's ambassador in charge of normalizing relations with Japan, and Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceania Affairs Bureau, walk together during their meeting in Shenyang in northeastern China's Liaoning Province, Monday, Sept. 29, 2014. The Monday meeting by negotiators from North Korea and Japan for talks on the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents was expected to last only one day, with Japan expected to pressure the North Korean delegation to produce a preliminary report on the issue. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Kenzaburo Fukuhara) (The Associated Press)

Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of normalizing relations with Japan, is surrounded by journalists following his meeting with Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceania Affairs Bureau, in Shenyang in northeastern China's Liaoning Province, Monday, Sept. 29, 2014. Song said Monday that Pyongyang and Tokyo had discussed forming a special investigation team to look into the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Kenzaburo Fukuhara) JAPAN OUT, MONDATORY CREDIT (The Associated Press)

Negotiators from North Korea and Japan are meeting in a northeastern Chinese city for talks on the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents.

The meeting between Japan's Junichi Ihara and North Korea's Song Il-ho in Shenyang is expected to last only one day. Japan is expected to pressure the North Korean delegation to produce a preliminary report.

In 2002, North Korea acknowledged that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese, mainly to train spies in Japanese language and culture. It allowed five of them to return to Japan that year but said the others had died.

Japan has officially recognized 17 such cases but believes hundreds more people may have been abducted and that many of them may still be alive.