Beijing, Shawwal 11, 1433, Aug 29, 2012, SPA - North Korea and Japan held their first official talks for four years on Wednesday after agreeing to discuss relatives' access to the remains of Japanese citizens buried in North Korea since World War II. Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said before the talks that they would be "a preliminary consultation to resume the official consultations between the [two] governments." Japan's Kyodo news agency and South Korean media quoted Gemba as saying the talks had been downgraded from director-level to "working-level consultations" at the request of North Korea. --SPA 14:55 LOCAL TIME 11:55 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1025494