Japan's PM asks for support in abduction dispute with NKorea

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he has asked the leaders of four Central European countries for help in a long dispute with North Korea over the abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago.

Abe says he has asked for "understanding and support" on an issue that is "very important" for Japan.

Japan says North Korea abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train agents in Japanese language and culture to spy on South Korea. Pyongyang has acknowledged abducting only 13 of them. The countries have no diplomatic relations.

Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, left, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 2nd left, Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, 2nd right, and Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis, right, address media during their press conference at the V4+Japan summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Abe met Thursday the prime ministers of Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland and Hungary's finance minister. The countries form a group known as Visegrad Four.

Abe also stopped in Slovakia as part of his tour of Europe and Washington.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives at the V4+Japan summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, right, and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, hold a joint statement for media at the V4+Japan summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, left, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 2nd left, Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, 2nd right, and Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis, right, pose for a photo at the V4+Japan summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives at the V4-Japan summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoPetr David Josek)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.

Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.

“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”

“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.

The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.

Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.

Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.

The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.

Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.

In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.

Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.

Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)