Tokyo  - Japan and North Korea plan to meet in Beijing Saturday for unofficial talks aimed at resuming bilateral negotiations that have been stalled for eight months, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.

Japan's negotiator was expected to press North Korea's ambassador in charge of normalization talks with Japan for concrete progress to resolve the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s.

But Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told reporters Friday that he did not expect much out of Saturday's meeting.

"If the other side suddenly comes up with some kind of offer [on the abduction issue], of course, that would be good, but I am not holding such high expectations from tomorrow's meeting," Komura was quoted as saying by NKH public television.

The talks between the two Asian rivals were started as part of six-nation talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear programmes. As part of those talks, North Korea promised to dismantle its atomic programmes in return for energy and economic aid as well as efforts to normalize its relations with Japan and the United States.

The abduction issue, however, has been a sticking point. North Korea admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese to teach North Korean agents the Japanese language, culture and customs. Pyongyang sent five of those abductees home in 2002, saying the remaining kidnapping victims had died. But Japan said it believes more might be alive and recognizes 17 people as abductees.

Meetings on normalizing Japanese-North Korean relations were expected to resume by the end of June, a Foreign Ministry official said. (dpa)