TOKYO, July 27 Kyodo - Japan is planning to support North Korean victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Tuesday.

The measure Japan introduced this year for A-bomb victims in South Korea ''could be a possible option,'' he told a news conference, adding that his ministry will closely consult with the Foreign Ministry.

The government provides health checkup and medical treatment for overseas A-bomb victims when they visit Japan. This year, it has begun to send Japanese doctors to South Korea to provide health checkup for South Korean victims who cannot visit Japan due to reasons such as sickness and aging.

In October, the government will begin to provide medical treatment subsidies through the Red Cross and other organizations to A-bomb victims who receive relevant medical treatment in South Korea and other countries.

There are an estimated 1,000 A-bomb victims living in North Korea, health officials said. In the absence of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea, most of them have not visited Japan for health checkup or medical treatment. Now that Japan and North Korea effectively have some diplomatic channels and are set to resume negotiations for normalizing bilateral relations, Sakaguchi and his ministry are willing to implement the support for North Korean victims, analysts said. Li Sil Kun, who heads an association of North Korean A-bomb victims in Japan, welcomed Sakaguchi's remark.

''Now I can expect the government to provide support for A-bomb victims through North Korea's Red Cross organization as I have requested for years,'' Li said in Hiroshima. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's willingness to normalize diplomatic ties with North Korea might have been reflected in Sakaguchi's remark, Li said, adding that he will convey it to North Korean A-bomb victims on his visit to North Korea in August. When the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II in 1945, a large number of Koreans and other foreigners were in the two cities, where they were held as prisoners of war or forced laborers. July 27, 2004 14:07:51