BEIJING (AP) — Japanese and North Korean envoys on Tuesday discussed a possible deal to ease Tokyo’s sanctions on the North in return for resolving questions about the fate of abducted Japanese citizens.

Japan’s chief envoy stressed that Tokyo also would take into account North Korea’s firing of Scud missiles this week in deciding on any agreement.

The one-day meeting was aimed at clarifying the fate of Japanese abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and ’80s, an issue that has kept relations in a deep freeze. The talks went ahead despite concern that the North’s launch of missiles on Sunday, which South Korea viewed as provocative, might prompt Tokyo to pull out.

The North agreed to open an investigation into the abductions following three days of talks in Stockholm in May. Tokyo agreed to lift some sanctions if the investigative committee appeared to have authority to properly probe the matter.

The Japanese envoy, Junichi Ihara, said North Korean officials informed him about the structure of a committee to conduct the investigation. He said he could not comment further until he briefed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In Tokyo, Abe said his government would study the North’s position before deciding how to respond.

“This will be considered together with concerns about the recent missile launches, and the Japanese government will make a general decision about all of this together,” Ihara said.

He said Sunday’s missile launch was “greatly regrettable” and ran counter to the spirit of previous joint statements. His North Korean counterpart, Song Il Ho, said the launches were “fully consistent with maintaining peace and stability in the region.”

North Korea acknowledged in 2002 that its agents had abducted Japanese to train its spies and eventually returned five of them. It said others Japan claimed were abducted had died or never entered the North.

Tokyo has disputed that and wants an investigation into at least 12 abduction cases. Private organizations say many more citizens were abducted.

Japan bans port calls by any North Korean-flag vessels, all trade with North Korea and the entry into Japan of North Korean citizens. Tokyo says that if its concerns are satisfied, it will allow more people exchanges, ease requirements to report money transfers to the North and raise limits on how much cash can be carried to the North. It will allow North Korean ships to make port calls for humanitarian purposes.

The North also is under sanctions based on U.N. resolutions since 2006 including an arms-trade ban, a freeze of North Korean assets, a ban on people exchanges and restrictions on education and training.

Japanese officials have given mixed signals about the Mangyonbong-92, a ferry that served as a main link between the countries for ethnic Koreans until 2006.

Ethnic Koreans in Japan demanded the ferry be allowed to operate for humanitarian purposes because it allowed them to travel to the North to meet relatives or conduct school excursions and cultural exchanges.

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Associated Press journalists Weiqun Zhang and Peng Peng in Beijing and Mari Yamaguchi and Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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