TOKYO - JAPAN will extend sanctions against North Korea, including a ban on imports, for another six months after they expire in mid-October, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday.

Kyodo said the decision was prompted by a lack of progress in a dispute over Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, as well as moves by the reclusive state towards restoring a plutonium-making plant.

Japan's foreign ministry could not be reached for comment.

The sanctions, which also bans North Korean ships from calling at Japanese ports, are reviewed every six months.

Tokyo slapped the sanctions against Pyongyang after the impoverished country conducted a nuclear test and test-launched ballistic missiles in 2006.

Japan has since refused to lift the sanctions unless there is progress in a dispute over the fate of Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s to teach its spies Japanese language and customs.

The fate of the abductees is a highly emotive issue in Japan. Pyongyang has admitted that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese, five of whom have been repatriated.

North Korea says the other eight are dead, but Tokyo wants more information about their fate and information on another four people it says were also kidnapped. -- REUTERS