N. Korea abductee Soga laments mother’s absence

Hitomi Soga, 63, abducted by North Korea in the late 1970s, on Monday expressed her current state of mind, saying, “It’s hard not being able to see my precious mother even once.”

At the press conference where she was speaking in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, on the 20th anniversary of her return to Japan, she added, “When my mother returns to Sado, I want to talk with her without end.”

Soga was abducted from Sado in August 1978 and returned to Japan in

October 2002. Her husband, Charles Jenkins, and two daughters returned to Japan in July 2004, but nothing is known of the whereabouts of her mother, Miyoshi, then 46, who was abducted along with Soga.

She also mentioned Jenkins, who passed away ve years ago, and said that she wished she could have spent more time with him.

Soga has been collecting signatures for petitions and giving lectures across the country in an e ort to have all the abduction victims brought back home as soon as possible. (Oct. 19)

The Yomiuri Shimbun Hitomi Soga speaks at a press conference in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, on Monday.