Japan and North Korea met on Wednesday in Beijing for their first face-to-face talks in four years in an attempt to lay the groundwork to overcome decades of mutual distrust.

Japan and North Korea met on Wednesday in Beijing for their first face-to-face talks in four years in an attempt to lay the groundwork to overcome decades of mutual distrust.

Ties between the two countries have long been strained, though they periodically try to resume dialogue with the ultimate -- and so far elusive -- goal of establishing formal diplomatic relations.

The talks come as governments and analysts seek clues about the emerging foreign policy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who took over the communist state after his father Kim Jong-Il died in December.

An official with the Japanese embassy in Beijing who asked not to be named confirmed that the discussions, which Tokyo has said are preparatory and which involve two relatively junior diplomats, had begun.
The discussions were expected to last one day but might stretch into Thursday.

The issues that have long bedeviled Japan-North Korea relations, however, remain largely the same as before so it is unclear how much, if any, progress can be made in the encounter.

Tokyo continues to want further answers regarding the fate of citizens abducted by North Korean agents, amid suspicions in Japan that Pyongyang has failed to provide all the information it has.