North Korea hinted on Friday at breaking off talks with Japan over the fate of Japanese citizens abducted decades ago, saying Pyongyang no longer sees significance in maintaining contact. Japan and North Korea held their last round of talks in November, but Tokyo has grown increasingly angry after DNA tests showed that bones handed over then were not, as Pyongyang claimed, those of the abducted Japanese citizens.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that Pyongyang saw little reason to maintain contact.

"It (North Korea) no longer feels that any DPRK-Japan inter-governmental contact is meaningful," he added. Democratic People's Republic of Korea is North Korea's official name.

The spokesman also said that North Korea rejected a recent Japanese report on Pyongyang's investigation into the fate of 10 Japanese citizens that Tokyo believes were kidnapped decades ago.

"We can neither accept nor admit the results ... as the (Japanese) government reacts to our good faith with an immoral attitude," he added.

Japanese Foreign Ministry officials were not available to comment.

Last week Tokyo said that it would urge the secretive communist state to reinvestigate the fate of Japanese citizens that were abducted decades ago to teach North Korean spies about Japan. Japan threatened to take "harsh" action unless Pyongyang responded "sincerely".

Copyright Reuters, 2005