JAPAN agreed to lift some sanctions against North Korea today in return for Pyongyang’s undertaking to open a new investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Tokyo would lift the sanctions after it confirms that a committee has been set up and has begun work. 

It will also consider possible humanitarian aid to North Korea depending on the progress of the investigation, which is expected to start in about three weeks.

The sanctions include restrictions on bilateral exchanges, limits on how much money Koreans in Japan can take on visits to North Korea and a ban on port calls by North Korean-flagged ships.

Pyongyang acknowledged in 2002 that its agents kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, mainly to train spies in Japanese language and culture. 

It allowed five of them to return to Japan in 2002, claiming that the others had died. 

Japan remains suspicious of that finding and has identified others it believes were abducted. 

North Korean state news agency KCNA announced that the North had agreed to set up an investigation committee and, if survivors are found, take necessary steps to send them back to Japan.

Japan, in exchange, “clarified once again its will to settle its inglorious past, solve pending issues and normalise relations,” it said.