TOKYO: Japan and China will start building a facility in northern China to destroy thousands of chemical bombs left behind by Japanese soldiers at the end of World War II within a year, Japanese officials said.

The decision was taken at working level talks on Thursday in Tokyo and puts the two nations on track to meeting a 2007 deadline to dispose of the weapons, which have been the cause of deadly accidents, the official said.

"We must dispose of the weapons soon so we decided to start construction," said foreign ministry official Masahiro Nakaya.

Japan has set aside 17.1 billion yen (157 million dollars) for the full cost of the construction of the site and will also foot the bill for incineration costs of bombs it recognizes are chemical weapons its soldiers left behind.

Work on the design stage will start immediately with a view to construction beginning by spring next year, said Akihiko Aoyama, an official at the Cabinet Office.

The plant will be built in the Haerbaling region of Dunhua city in China's northern Jilin province.

Tokyo estimates that 700,000 chemical bombs and grenades were abandoned in China by its retreating armies, although Chinese experts put the figure at up to two million -- the the world's largest stockpile of abandoned chemical weapons.

Some 90 percent of Japan's chemical weapons left in China will be disposed of in the project, Nakaya said.

- AFP