TOKYO, August 13, 2008 (AFP) - Japan said Wednesday it had made progress in a bitter row over North Korea's abductions of its citizens as the secretive state agreed to complete a new probe this autumn and let in Japanese investigators.

Analysts said the deal could also give fresh impetus to international efforts to end North Korea's nuclear drive.

Japan, which does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, said it had won assurances that it could inspect sites and hold interviews inside the hardline communist country if there were signs that citizens snatched in the 1970s and 1980s were still alive.

Japan and North Korea held two days of talks in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang that closed early Wednesday with a goal of wrapping up a fresh investigation this autumn.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said that North Korea was moving forward on the abductions issue, a subject of deep concern for many voters here.

'This is progress,' Komura told reporters.

Kyoko Nakayama, the cabinet minister in charge of the issue, said: 'We are entering a new phase if they conduct an investigation on the assumption that there are survivors.'

But families of the victims said any optimism was premature and criticised the government's willingness to ease some sanctions on the North if the new investigation goes ahead.

'We have said that the sanctions should not be lifted without the return of all abductees and our stance will never change,' said Teruaki Masumoto, whose sister Rumiko was abducted on a southern Japanese beach in 1978.

Kayoko Arimoto, whose daughter Keiko was abducted while studying in Europe, said: 'I'll never trust North Korea at all. I cannot be confident without seeing results.'

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il admitted at a landmark 2002 summit with then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi that his regime kidnapped Japanese people to train its spies in the enemy nation's language and customs.

He allowed five to return, and said eight others were dead. Japan insists more are alive and that North Korea has not acknowledged other abductees.

Masao Okonogi, an expert on the reclusive state, said North Korea 'has taken a big step' by agreeing the probe would look into everyone whom Japan suspects was kidnapped.

He said the North may be counting on action by US President George W. Bush in his final months in office. Bush, who once branded Pyongyang part of an 'axis of evil,' has championed a six-nation aid-for-disarmament deal.

The North Koreans would 'look great if they showed results in the probe into the abductions and at the same time make the right moves on the nuclear issue,' said Okonogi, a professor at Tokyo's Keio University.

The United States has put off a final decision on removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move opposed by close ally Japan.

The abduction issue is highly sensitive for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, a longtime advocate of better relations with Asia who is struggling to reverse low approval ratings.

'This is an achievement thanks to Fukuda's talks-oriented policies,' said Gen Nakatani, a former defence chief and senior official of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

But Masayuki Naoshima, a policy-making chief of the largest opposition Democratic Party, said: 'We have to monitor details of their action and consider if it will lead to what people can accept.'

Opinion polls show wide opposition to his plans to ease some sanctions on North Korea in return for progress on the abductions.

Japan's top negotiator Akitaka Saiki said in Shenyang that Tokyo was ready to lift restrictions on chartered flights and the movement of people once North Korea started the new probe.

'I hope that the investigation will be carried out thoroughly and lead to the swift return of the victims,' Saiki said.

Song Il-Ho, the North Korean ambassador negotiating with Japan, warned that the communist state was watching Tokyo's moves on sanctions.

'If Japan breaks this agreement, all would collapse,' he told reporters in Shenyang, as quoted by Japan's Jiji Press.