Japan has been seeking international pressure on Pyongyang to resolve a row over its abductions of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies, an emotionally charged issue here.

"I would like to ask the G8 leaders to understand the issue and cooperate with us," Fukuda told reporters four days before he hosts the summit in the northern Japanese mountain resort of Toyako.

"This is an issue between Japan and North Korea, but public opinion in the international community is also very important," he said.

Fukuda, a centrist known for efforts to reconcile with other Asian nations, has come under fire from relatives of the abductees for relaxing a limited number of sanctions against North Korea last month.

He took the decision after the North agreed under US pressure to reopen an investigation into the plight of the abductees. North Korea returned five victims in 2002 but has said, to Japan's scepticism, that the others are dead.

Despite concerns in Japan, the United States went ahead with plans last week to remove North Korea from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism in return for Pyongyang's progress in ending its nuclear weapons programme.

"It's important to create an international environment that is favourable to solving the abduction issue by cooperating with the United States and other relevant countries," Fukuda said.

The G8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

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