Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on May 22 to hold talks with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il on the abduction issue, a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker said Friday.  

According to Japan's NHK television, the Foreign Ministry informed the lawmaker about the plan around noon Friday, and the government is expected to make a formal announcement later in the day.

The development suggests there has been progress in negotiations involving Tokyo's demand that the DPRK send the families of five repatriated abduction victims to Japan, NHK said in a news report.

The Japanese government has been proposing that Koizumi visit the DPRK on condition he can bring the eight family members to Japan, it said.

The second talks between Koizumi and Kim are also expected to reactivate stalled normalization negotiations between the two countries if there is marked progress in the abduction issue.

Koizumi made a landmark trip to Pyongyang in September 2002 for talks with Kim.

During the trip, the DPRK admitted abduction of 13 Japanese in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and said eight of them have died. The five others were allowed to return to Japan in October 2002.

On Friday morning, Koizumi met Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi, Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka, and Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Kyodo News reported.

The officials have reported to the prime minister about the arrangements for his trip to Pyongyang, Kyodo News said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2004)