North Korean abductions of Japanese

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In May 2004, North Korea allowed the five children of two abducted couples to leave North Korea and join their families, who had come back to Japan for a year and a half.

The North Korean abductions of Japanese refers to the abduction of many Japanese citizens from Japan by agents of the North Korean government during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only sixteen (8 men and 8 women) are officially recognized by the Japanese government, there may have been as many as 70 to 80 Japanese abducted^[1]. The North Korean government has officially admitted kidnapping thirteen citizens^[2]. A possible seventeenth case is being evaluated for official recognition^[3].

Most of the missing were in their 20s, although the youngest, Megumi Yokota, was just 13^[4] when she disappeared in November 1977 from the Japanese city of Niigata on the west coast. The North Korean government claims that she committed suicide on 13 March 1994.^[5]

It is believed that the victims were abducted to teach the Japanese language and culture at North Korean spy schools.^[4] Older victims were also abducted to obtain their persona, but these abductees are believed to have been killed immediately.^{[citation needed]} It is also speculated that Japanese women were abducted to become wives to a group of North Korean terrorists, and that some may have been abducted because they happened to witness North Korean agents in Japan, which may explain Yokota's kidnapping.^[6]

For a long time, these abductions were denied by North Korea and were often considered a conspiracy theory. Despite pressure by Japanese parent groups, the Japanese government itself also denied the abductions for many years.^{[citation needed]} There are also claims that this issue is now being used by neo-nationalistic rightists to further militarization and other political goals.^[7] ^[8] Further, foreign parent groups have pointed out hypocrisy on the part of the Japanese government for raising this issue internationally but ignoring the many international parental abductions to Japan by Japanese citizens.^[9]

1 Talks between North Korea and Japan in 2002 and aftermath
2 Victims officially recognized by the Japanese government
3 Other abductions by North Korea
4 Controversies
5 Notes and references
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Talks between North Korea and Japan in 2002 and aftermath

On 17 September 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited North Korea to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. There, Kim admitted abducting 13 Japanese citizens, and issued an oral apology. He attributed the kidnappings to "some people who wanted to show their heroism and adventurism", and avoided taking the blame.

North Korea also provided death certificates for 8 people who the North claimed were dead, but later admitted that they were forgeries in a conference in November 2004.

[edit] Return of five victims

Later, North Korea allowed the five victims that it said were alive to return to Japan, on the condition that they return later to the North. The victims set foot on Japanese soil on October 15 2002.

However, the Japanese government, listening to the pleas of the general public and the abductee victims' families, told the North that the victims would not be returning. North Korea claimed that this was a violation of the agreement and refused to continue further talks.

The five victims returned were Yasushi Chimura, his wife Fukie, Kaoru Hasuike, his wife Yukiko, and Hitomi Soga.

[edit] "Return" of the families of the victims

On May 22 2004, Prime Minister Koizumi visited Pyongyang for the second time, and the children of Yasushi and Fukie Chimura, who were born in North Korea, were able to "return" to Japan.

Because Hitomi Soga's husband, Charles Robert Jenkins, was a defector of the United States Army and risked a court-martial, the family met in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 9 2004 and later returned on July 18 to Japan.

[edit] Further evidence and investigations

In November 2004, North Korea returned two human remains, stating that they were the remains of Megumi Yokota and Kaoru Matsuki, who the North claimed died after being abducted. However, subsequent DNA testing determined that these remains belonged to neither of the two. This mistake—intentional or not—further strained relations between Japan and North Korea.

In an interview with Japanese police, Yasushi Chimura and Kaoru Hasuike, two of the abductees allowed to return to Japan in 2004, identified two of their abductors as Sin Gwang-su (known also as Sin Kwang-su) and a man known as "Pak". The National Police Agency has requested the arrest of Shin Kwang Su and Choi Sung Chol over the kidnapping of Japanese nationals. Shin reportedly told police in South Korea that he had been personally ordered by Kim Jong-il to carry out abductions.^[10]

Recently^{[citation needed]}, uniformed and plainclothed officers from the Osaka Police Precinct raided the Chamber of Commerce of North Koreans in order to locate clues relating to the disappearance of Tadaaki Hara, another victim.^[11]

[edit] Current situation

Sakie Yokota (mother of an abducted girl, Megumi Yokota) met with President of the United States, George Walker Bush

The North Korean government continues to claim that there were only 13 abductees and that the issue has been resolved with the return of the five victims. However, the Japanese government claims that the issue has not been properly resolved, and that all evidence provided by the North is forged.

As of May 2004, five abductee victims and their families (ten in total) have returned from North Korea. However, there are still a great number of alleged victims who are missing.

Although then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda commented on 24 December 2004 that "unless honest measures are taken swiftly, we cannot help but impose strict measures", hinting at possible sanctions, such moves have not yet been taken by the Japanese government.^[12]

The victims' support group has also looked to the United Nations for help. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a speech given in the Japanese Diet on February 24 2004, mentioned the issue, sympathized with the victims and their families and expressed wishes for a complete settlement.^[13]

Later that year, the United States Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004^[14] in both houses. In response to this, the South Korean ruling party, not wanting to damage North-South relations, expressed concern.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand, the victims' families and their supporters expressed gratitude towards the United States government and president.^[15]

In 2004, the Japanese Diet passed two laws designed to restrict trade with North Korea.^[16]

On November 2 2005, the United Kingdom lead 45 countries, including the European Union, the United States and Japan, in submitting a proposal condemning North Korea to the United Nations. On December 16 this proposal passed the General Assembly with 88 support, 21 against and 60 abstention votes. In particular, China and Russia were against this proposal, and the South Korean government abstained. The proposal condemns North Korea of "systematic humanitarian violations", and mentions the abduction issue, the existence of concentration camps and the forced return of North Korean refugees to the homeland.^[17]

A working group dealing with human rights abuses has also been set up at the six-party talks.^{[citation needed]}United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed allover support for the abduction issue^[18], and the United States government has indicated that the resolution of the issue is one of the prerequisites for removing North Korea from the list of terrorist-supporting nations.^{[citation needed]}

On 27 April 2006, Sakie Yokota, mother of abductee Megumi Yokota, testified in a United States House of Representatives subcommittee about the abduction issue. The next day, Yokota met with US President George W. Bush to ask for the United States' help in resolving the abduction issue. The President called the meeting "one of the most moving meetings" in his presidency and questioned North Korea's actions.^[19]

On 13 June 2006, the North Korean Human Rights Bill, calling for sanctions to be placed on North Korea, was tabled in the Japanese Diet.^[20]

[edit] Victims officially recognized by the Japanese government

Sixteen nationals are officially recognized by the Japanese government as victims of the abduction issue. The sixteenth, Minoru Tanaka, was added to the list on 27 April 2005 following discovery of evidence supporting the theory that he was abducted.^[21]

Name	Gender	Born	Circumstances of disappearance	Current status
Yutaka Kume	Male	ca. 1925	Disappeared in September 1977 from Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture	North Korea denies any involvement^[5]
Megumi Yokota	Female	October 15, 1964	Disappeared November 15 1977 from Niigata, Niigata Prefecture	Allegedly died March 13, 1994 in North Korea [date was originally announced as 1993 but was later corrected by Pyongyang]
Yasushi Chimura	Male	June 4, 1955	Disappeared in 1978 together with his fiancee Fukie Hamamoto	Alive (returned)
Fukie Hamamoto	Female	June 8 1955	Disappeared in 1978 together with her fiance Yasushi Chimura	Alive (returned)
Yaeko Taguchi	Female	August 10 1955	Disappeared June 1978 from Tokyo	Allegedly died July 30, 1986 in North Korea.
Rumiko Masumoto	Female	November 1, 1954	Disappeared August 12 1978 from Fukiage Kagoshima Prefecture, together with her boyfriend Shuichi Ichikawa	Allegedly died August 17, 1981 in North Korea
Shuichi Ichikawa	Male	October 20 1954	Disappeared August 12 1978 from Fukiage Kagoshima Prefecture, together with his girlfriend Rumiko Masumoto	Allegedly died September 4, 1979 in North Korea
Hitomi Soga	Female	May 17, 1959	Disappeared together with her mother Miyoshi Soga on August 1978 from Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture	Married Charles Robert Jenkins, a deserter from the United States Army, in 1980, and returned to Japan with him in 2004.
Miyoshi Soga	Female	ca. 1932	Disappeared together with her daughter Hitomi Soga on August 1978 from Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture	Unknown
Tadaaki Hara	Male	August 10, 1936	Disappeared June, 1980 from Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture	Allegedly died July 19 1986 in North Korea
Toru Ishioka	Male	June 29, 1957	Disappeared May, 1980 from Madrid, Spain during a trip in Europe	Allegedly died November 4, 1988 in North Korea
Kaoru Matsuki	Male	June 23, 1953	Disappeared May, 1980 from Madrid, Spain during a trip in Europe	Allegedly died August 23, 1996 in North Korea
Keiko Arimoto	Female	January 12, 1960	Disappeared June, 1983 from London, United Kingdom while studying English abroad	Allegedly died November 4 1988 in North Korea
Kaoru Hasuike	Male	September 29 1957	Disappeared with his girlfriend Yukiko Okudo	Alive (returned)
Yukiko Okudo	Female	April 15, 1956	Disappeared with her boyfriend Kaoru Hasuike	Alive (returned)
Minoru Tanaka	Male	ca. 1950	Disappeared in June 1978. Persuaded to go overseas, and taken to North Korea later^[21]	North Korea denies any involvement^[22]

[edit] Other abductions by North Korea

See also: North Korean abductions of South Koreans

North Korea has also perpetrated abductions in South Korea, which has the highest number of citizens abducted by the North. The number of South Korean abductees is put at 486^[23] or 485^[24].

In December 1969, a Korean Air YS-11 was hijacked by a North Korean agent soon after taking off from Gangneung.^[25] The pilot was forced to fly and land in North Korea. The passenger, crew and aircraft have yet to be returned. North Korea claims that this was an act of asylum by the pilot, but it is considered to be another case of abduction.

In the 1970s, many women were abducted from Lebanon, and in July 1977 there was an attempt to kidnap a Korean pianist/actress and her spouse from Yugoslavia^[25]. There were also incidents in which Korean high school students were kidnapped.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has begun investigations on the Korean abductees. Abductee Hitomi Soga has also testified that citizens of Romania and Thailand were among the abductees.^[26] The family of an abduction victim from Thailand has been identified, and the Japanese government is working with the Thai government to resolve the issue.

It may be that even Americans have been abducted by North Koreans. In 1987, Susan Richardson (who played Susan Bradford on the TV Show "Eight is Enough") claimed to have been kidnapped and taken to North Korean and held against her will. When she later escaped and made it back to the West, no one believed her story. Subsequently she had a breakdown and her career faltered.

[edit] Controversies

The Japanese government ignored pleas from parent groups for many years to recognize that their children had been abducted by North Korea. Some parents, such as the Yokotas continued to push the issue by personally touring the country to hand out flyers and give talks on to intended to raise public awareness on this issue. Obviously they were successful.

There are claims that most of the organized groups supporting this issue in Japan are backed by rightist organizations who want to use this issue to gain domestic political power, to push for renewing Japan's military strength and to deflect focus on current controversies about Japan's history in the region and military past.^{[citation needed]} The 2006 elected Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, became well known in part due to his aggressive advocacy of the North Korean abduction issue.

There is also controversy about whether the remains of Megumi Yokota returned by North Korea to Japan are hers or not. The Japanese government tested them and claims they are not. But in February 2005, the British scientific journal Nature published an article in which Teikyo University DNA analyst who did the tests, Yoshii Tomio, admitted they were inconclusive. Likewise, the technique used is reportedly no longer used professionally in the United States due to the ease with which contamination can occur. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, the remains are not available for further testing.^[27] Megumi's parents, who are now vocal national and international media celebrities on this issue, might become less visible if the remains were proven to be hers.

On August 18, 2006, left-behind American parents protested concerning this issue at the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary "Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story." ^[28] They claimed that Japan is being hypocritical about international abductions, since Japan is the only G7 nation who has not signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, nor will Japan extradite Japanese citizens who are formally wanted for arrest by other countries on charges of abduction.^[29]