The talks will be held on December 5-6, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.

Top of the agenda is expected to be North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese nationals in the Cold War era and its arms programme, amid media reports that Pyongyang is preparing for a long-range missile test.

Japan's top negotiator will be Shinsuke Sugiyama and North Korea will be represented by Song Il-Ho.

They held two-day talks in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator in mid-November in the first senior-level meeting between the two nations in four years.

After the meeting Sugiyama said the atmosphere was "not acerbic."

"It was direct, serious and very rich in substance. We discussed a wide range of subjects in depth," he told reporters at that time.