Delegations from Japan and North Korea to the fourth round of six-party talks made bilateral contacts Tuesday for a short time, a Japanese official told a news briefing.  

Heads of the two delegations, Sasae Kenichiro, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Kim Kye-gwan, North Korean vice foreign minister, met after the opening session of the fourth round of six-party talks on Tuesday morning, said the Japanese official in condition of anonymity.

They did not sit down during the meeting, but just stood for a while, he said.

He declined to make comments on the specific contents of the bilateral contacts. "Japan has always asked North Korea to sit down for negotiations, while receiving no response from it," he said.

North Korea said previously it would not deal with Japan even in the six-party talks due to Japan's unjust stance over the talks and the " abduction issue."

"Japan insisted on bringing up the already settled 'abduction issue' for discussion at the talks, which is not relevant to the main topic of the talks," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2005)