Japan-N Korea red cross to meet this week

Japanese and North Korean Red Cross officials plan to meet in Beijing this week. The state-run Korean Central News Agency said that they will meet for two days starting on Thursday. The Japanese Red Cross Society says they will discuss returning the remains of Japanese nationals who died in North Korea on their way home around the end of World War Two. Also on the agenda are possible visits to their graves in North Korea by relatives. It says three officials from each side will take part, according to (NHK World) website. The talks will be the 1st of their kind in 10 years. Japan's health and welfare ministry says more than 34,000 Japanese nationals died in North Korea around the end of World War Two in 1945. Some died in battle with former Soviet troops and others due to hunger or winter cold on their way to Japan. The remains of more than 20,000 of the dead have not been collected. In the 1970s, Japanese Diet members and North Korean representatives discussed returning the remains, but failed to reach an agreement. Japanese relatives have since expressed hope to visit North Korea.