Tokyo plans as early as Friday to meet with Pyongyang to explain the results of its examinations of materials North Korea handed over as evidence in the abduction issue and to press for a prompt explanation of incongruities, officials said Tuesday.

But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said the government will not set a deadline for Pyongyang to respond.

``After clarifying points in question, we will request that North Korea make a sincere response,'' Koizumi told reporters. ``We will call for an earliest possible response, rather than setting a deadline.''

The government initially considered setting a deadline of late February or late March, according to sources, but dropped the plan out of concern it would fuel calls for swift sanctions against the North.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the government will announce its findings Friday after meeting with abductees' families to explain the results of the DNA tests and other examinations.

Afterward, Foreign Ministry officials will directly inform North Korea of the findings and lodge a protest either in Beijing or Pyongyang, government officials said.

The evidence, including what North Korea said were the remains of abductee Megumi Yokota, was handed to Japanese officials who visited Pyongyang last month for bilateral working-level negotiations on resolving abduction issues.

DNA tests showed the remains were not of Megumi, but of two different people.

Tokyo is pressing for information on the fate of 10 missing Japanese, but Pyongyang has stuck to its position that eight died and it has no information on the whereabouts of the two others.(IHT/Asahi: December 22,2004)