Japanese hope meet augurs return of abductees

TOKYO: Relatives of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea decades ago expressed hope that yesterday’s interKorean summit and a subsequent U.S.North Korea summit will move forward the long-stalled abduction issue and ultimately lead to the return of their loved ones.

“I hope things will take a turn for the better,” said Sakie Yokota, the 82-year-old mother of Megumi, who was abducted in 1977 at age 13. Yokota was watching live news reports on the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In taking place in the border village of Panmunjeom.

While expressing hope for an early resolution of the issue out of concern for the health of her 85-year-old husband Shigeru, Sakie Yokota said she is remaining levelheaded in “seeing how things will unfold” given that North Korea has previously backtracked every time there were apparent signs of progress on the issue.

The leaders held the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade yesterday, focusing on the North’s denuclearisation and ending their decades-old confrontation, raising hope among aging relatives that the diplomatic developments will also pave the way for the return of the abductees.

At a Japan-US summit in Florida last week, US President Donald Trump pledged to raise the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and the 1980s at an envisioned meeting with Kim in May or early June.

Shigeo Iizuka, the 79-year-old head of a group representing abductees’ families, met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday, calling on him to “respond effectively” to the rapidly changing situation to resolve the abduction issue. Iizuka’s younger sister Yaeko Taguchi was kidnapped when she was 22.

Tokyo officially lists 17 of its citizens as having been abducted by North Korea and suspects Pyongyang’s involvement in other disappearances.

Five of the 17 were repatriated to Japan in 2002 but no major progress has been made since then. Pyongyang maintains eight have died and the other four were never in the country.

At a rally held after the meeting with Abe, Nobuhiro Matsuki, 45, whose older brother Kaoru went missing at age 26, said he wants Pyongyang to retract its statement that some of the abductees are already dead. “My brother is now 64. I just wonder how he is feeling now,” he said.

“We will not be able to reunite and hug each other or talk about the old days if they return after our health deteriorates. I cannot wait anymore,” said Shoichi Osawa, 82.