Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday he asked painter Ikuo Hirayama to tell North Korean cultural officials when he visits Pyongyang next week that a settlement of bilateral political issues is indispensable for boosting cultural ties.

    Hirayama, president of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador to proceed with work to register a Goguryeo tomb and mural complex in a Pyongyang suburb as a U.N. World Heritage site. Speaking at a press conference, Fukuda said he asked Hirayama at a meeting at the prime minister's office to tell North Korean cultural officials that political issues including past North Korean abductions of Japanese should be resolved before Japan helps the North to preserve its cultural assets.

    The abduction issue has caused public concern in Japan and has been a major sticking point for the two countries in efforts to proceed with talks on normalizing ties.