SEOUL, June 18 (Reuters) - South Korea's chief envoy to talks on ending North Korea's nuclear arms programme called on Japan on Wednesday to provide energy assistance to the impoverished country to help an aid-for-disablement deal.

Japan has avoided participating in the deal reached among six countries until North Korea returns Japanese nationals kidnapped by the communist state decades ago and still held in the North.

"Now is the time that Japan should start participating in the economic and energy assistance so that the assistance could be successfully completed," nuclear envoy Kim Sook told a news conference in Seoul.

Japan said last week it would lift some sanctions on North Korea after Pyongyang agreed to reopen investigations on the fate of abducted Japanese citizens but said it would still not join energy aid for the North.

Kim travels to Tokyo on Wednesday for talks with the chief nuclear envoys from Japan and the United States on North Korea's overdue declaration of its nuclear programmes under the multilateral disarmament deal. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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