The DPRK and Japan have started high-level government talks at the DPRK embassy in Beijing. It is the first time in more than a year that officials from the two countries have held talks.

A major issue for Japan during the two-day talks is the fate of at least a dozen of its citizens, who it says were abducted by the DPRK in the 1970s and 1980s.

Japan and the DPRK do not have diplomatic relations. They held talks in 2012 during a brief warming of relations, but those ended after the DPRK launched a rocket in December that year.

The two countries agreed to resume the talks after an informal gathering earlier this month between Japanese and DPRK foreign ministry officials in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

The two-day talks are scheduled to end on Monday.