Megumi Yokota
Encyclopedia
was one of at least 17 Japan
ese citizens kidnapped
by North Korea
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was abducted on November 15, 1977 at the age of thirteen and apparently forced to help train North Korean spies
to pass as Japanese citizens. In February 1997, information about Megumi's abduction was given to Yokota's parents from Tatsukichi Hyomoto by a phone call. In 2002, North Korea admitted that she and others had been abducted, but claimed that she had committed suicide on March 13, 1994 (originally announced as 1993 and later corrected to 1994) and returned what it said were her cremated remains. Japan stated that a DNA
test proved they could not have been her remains, and her family does not believe that she would have committed suicide. She is believed to have been abducted by Sin Gwang-su
.
In the North in 1986, Yokota married a South Korea
n national, Kim Young-nam (Korean
: 김영남, Hanja
: 金英男), likely also abducted, and the couple had a daughter in 1987, Kim Hye-gyong (김혜경, whose real name was later revealed to be Kim Eun-gyong, 김은경). In June 2006, Kim Young-nam, who has since remarried, was allowed to have his family from the South visit him, and during the reunion he confirmed Yokota had committed suicide in 1994 after suffering from mental illness, and had had several attempts at suicide before. He also claimed the remains returned in 2004 are genuine. His comments were however widely dismissed as repeating the official Pyongyang
line, with Megumi's father claiming that Young-nam was not allowed to speak freely during his interview in Pyongyang, stating that "he was likely restricted in terms of what he can say" and that "it looked as if he were reading a script".
It is widely believed, especially in Japan, that Yokota is still alive. In November 2011 a South Korean magazine, Weekly Chosun, stated that a 2005 directory of Pyongyang residents listed a woman, named Kim Eun Gong, with the same birth date as Yokota. The directory gave Kim's spouse's name as Kim Yong Nam, a South Korean abductee who was previously reported to have married Yokota. Japanese government sources verified on 18 November 2011 that they had reviewed the directory but had yet to draw a conclusion on the identity of the woman listed.
, Yoshii Tomio. Yoshii, it later transpired, was a relatively junior faculty member, of lecturer status, in a forensic department that had neither a professor nor even an assistant professor. Remarkably, he said that he had no previous experience in the analysis of cremated specimens, described his tests as inconclusive, and remarked that such samples were very easily contaminated by anyone coming in contact with them, like "stiff sponges that can absorb anything". In other words, the man who had actually conducted the Japanese analysis pronounced it anything but definitive. The five tiny samples he had been given to work on (the largest of them 1.5 grams) had anyway been used up in his laboratory, so independent verification was thereafter impossible. It seemed likely as a result that nobody could ever know for sure what Pyongyang's package had contained.
When the Japanese government's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hiroyuki Hosoda
, referred to this article as inadequate and a misrepresentation of the government-commissioned analysis, Nature responded, in a highly unusual editorial (17 March), saying that:
(2006), Megumi (2007), and Megumi (2008). In October 2006 a special aired on Japan television titled Reunion ~ Megumi Yokota's Wish (Saikai ~ Yokota Megumi no Negai; 再会～横田めぐみさんの願い). It starred Mayuko Fukuda
as a young Yokota, and Nana Katase
as grown Yokota.
Yokota's parents supervised the creation of a serial manga
, one titled Megumi
detailing her last days in Japan before her abduction, and another titled Dakkan
about returned victim Kaoru Hasuike. Megumi was announced for an anime
adaption by Japanese Government.
In 2010, the Shinjuku Theater has performed a stage adaptation of Megumi's life called "The Pledge to Megumi" (めぐみへの誓い) The main storyline centers on Megumi Yokota before and during her abduction by North Korea, and with a fictional ending where Megumi is reunited with her parents.
) introduced a song dedicated to Megumi. Titled, 'Song for Megumi' (2007) Stookey toured Japan to sing the song in February, and attended various media interviews with the Yokota parents.
In 2010, Peter Frampton
, the British rock singer who broke records in the 1970s with smash hits "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "I'm in You", recorded two songs about Megumi Yokota after watching the documentary, "ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story", on PBS. Titled, "Asleep At The Wheel" and "Suite Liberte", the songs are part of his latest album, "Thank You, Mr. Churchill".
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese citizens kidnapped
North Korean abductions of Japanese
The abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan by agents of the North Korean government happened during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only 17 Japanese are officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted, there may have been as many as 70 to 80...
by North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was abducted on November 15, 1977 at the age of thirteen and apparently forced to help train North Korean spies
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
to pass as Japanese citizens. In February 1997, information about Megumi's abduction was given to Yokota's parents from Tatsukichi Hyomoto by a phone call. In 2002, North Korea admitted that she and others had been abducted, but claimed that she had committed suicide on March 13, 1994 (originally announced as 1993 and later corrected to 1994) and returned what it said were her cremated remains. Japan stated that a DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
test proved they could not have been her remains, and her family does not believe that she would have committed suicide. She is believed to have been abducted by Sin Gwang-su
Sin Gwang-su (spy)
Sin Gwang-su is a Zainichi Korean North Korean, was born in Shizuoka, Japan, He was involved in the North Korean abductions of Japanese....
.
In the North in 1986, Yokota married a South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n national, Kim Young-nam (Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: 김영남, Hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
: 金英男), likely also abducted, and the couple had a daughter in 1987, Kim Hye-gyong (김혜경, whose real name was later revealed to be Kim Eun-gyong, 김은경). In June 2006, Kim Young-nam, who has since remarried, was allowed to have his family from the South visit him, and during the reunion he confirmed Yokota had committed suicide in 1994 after suffering from mental illness, and had had several attempts at suicide before. He also claimed the remains returned in 2004 are genuine. His comments were however widely dismissed as repeating the official Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...
line, with Megumi's father claiming that Young-nam was not allowed to speak freely during his interview in Pyongyang, stating that "he was likely restricted in terms of what he can say" and that "it looked as if he were reading a script".
It is widely believed, especially in Japan, that Yokota is still alive. In November 2011 a South Korean magazine, Weekly Chosun, stated that a 2005 directory of Pyongyang residents listed a woman, named Kim Eun Gong, with the same birth date as Yokota. The directory gave Kim's spouse's name as Kim Yong Nam, a South Korean abductee who was previously reported to have married Yokota. Japanese government sources verified on 18 November 2011 that they had reviewed the directory but had yet to draw a conclusion on the identity of the woman listed.
DNA controversy
An article in the 3 February 2005 issue of Nature revealed that the DNA analysis on Megumi's remains had been performed by a member of the medical department of Teikyo UniversityTeikyo University
is a private university headquartered in the Itabashi ward of Tokyo, Japan. It was established in 1931 as Teikyo Commercial High School by Lee. It became Teikyo University in 1966...
, Yoshii Tomio. Yoshii, it later transpired, was a relatively junior faculty member, of lecturer status, in a forensic department that had neither a professor nor even an assistant professor. Remarkably, he said that he had no previous experience in the analysis of cremated specimens, described his tests as inconclusive, and remarked that such samples were very easily contaminated by anyone coming in contact with them, like "stiff sponges that can absorb anything". In other words, the man who had actually conducted the Japanese analysis pronounced it anything but definitive. The five tiny samples he had been given to work on (the largest of them 1.5 grams) had anyway been used up in his laboratory, so independent verification was thereafter impossible. It seemed likely as a result that nobody could ever know for sure what Pyongyang's package had contained.
When the Japanese government's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hiroyuki Hosoda
Hiroyuki Hosoda
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet . From 2004 to 2005, he was the Chief Cabinet Secretary in Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinets, succeeded by Shinzō Abe on October 31, 2005....
, referred to this article as inadequate and a misrepresentation of the government-commissioned analysis, Nature responded, in a highly unusual editorial (17 March), saying that:
"Japan is right to doubt North Korea's every statement. But its interpretation of the DNA tests has crossed the boundary of science's freedom from political interference. Nature' s interview with the scientist who carried out the tests raised the possibility that the remains were merely contaminated, making the DNA tests inconclusive. This suggestion is uncomfortable for a Japanese government that wants to have North Korea seen as unambiguously fraudulent. ...
The inescapable fact is that the bones may have been contaminated. ... It is also entirely possible that North Korea is lying. But the DNA tests that Japan is counting on won't resolve the issue. The problem is not in the science but in the fact that the government is meddling in scientific matters at all. Science runs on the premise that experiments, and all the uncertainty involved in them, should be open for scrutiny. Arguments made by other Japanese scientists that the tests should have been carried out by a larger team are convincing. Why did Japan entrust them to one scientist working alone, one who no longer seems to be free to talk about them?
Japan's policy seems a desperate effort to make up for what has been a diplomatic failure ... Part of the burden for Japan's political and diplomatic failure is being shifted to a scientist for doing his job—deriving conclusions from experiments and presenting reasonable doubts about them. But the friction between North Korea and Japan will not be decided by a DNA test. Likewise, the interpretation of DNA test results cannot be decided by the government of either country. Dealing with North Korea is no fun, but it doesn't justify breaking the rules of separation between science and politics."
Media attention
Documentaries made about Megumi and the other kidnapping cases include: KIDNAPPED! The Japan-North Korea Abduction Cases (2005), Abduction: The Megumi Yokota StoryAbduction: The Megumi Yokota Story
Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story is an American documentary about Megumi Yokota, a Japanese student who was abducted by a North Korean agent in 1977.The film made its world premiere at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival and has won numerous awards...
(2006), Megumi (2007), and Megumi (2008). In October 2006 a special aired on Japan television titled Reunion ~ Megumi Yokota's Wish (Saikai ~ Yokota Megumi no Negai; 再会～横田めぐみさんの願い). It starred Mayuko Fukuda
Mayuko Fukuda
, born on August 4, 1994 in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese child actress who made her debut in 1998. She is contracted to talent agency FLaMme.Her father, Kenji Fukuda, is a drummer in the band Kasutera.- Profile :*Nicknames: , *Interests: art...
as a young Yokota, and Nana Katase
Nana Katase
is a Japanese actress.Katase portrayed Kiyomi Takada in Death Note: The Last Name. She also released a number of albums. "Fantasy" was one of her songs and it was in the third intro of Hikaru no Go. It was part of the "Galaxy, Telepathy, and Fantasy" album and after "Necessary" was made as her single...
as grown Yokota.
Yokota's parents supervised the creation of a serial manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, one titled Megumi
Megumi (manga)
is a manga about Megumi Yokota, a Japanese girl who was abducted when she was 13 years old by North Korean spies in 1977. The manga concept was conceived by her mother and father and was penned by Souichi Moto under their supervision.-Anime:...
detailing her last days in Japan before her abduction, and another titled Dakkan
Dakkan (manga)
is a short manga originally created by Toru Hasuike and illustrated by Souichi Moto, first published in Futabasha.-Plot:The story is about Toru Hasuike, whose young brother Kaoru was kidnapped by North Korean Spies in 1978. Now 24 years later Kaoru is finally returning home, but Toru finds his...
about returned victim Kaoru Hasuike. Megumi was announced for an anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
adaption by Japanese Government.
In 2010, the Shinjuku Theater has performed a stage adaptation of Megumi's life called "The Pledge to Megumi" (めぐみへの誓い) The main storyline centers on Megumi Yokota before and during her abduction by North Korea, and with a fictional ending where Megumi is reunited with her parents.
Song for Megumi
In early 2007, Paul Stookey (of U.S. folk group Peter, Paul and MaryPeter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...
) introduced a song dedicated to Megumi. Titled, 'Song for Megumi' (2007) Stookey toured Japan to sing the song in February, and attended various media interviews with the Yokota parents.
In 2010, Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
, the British rock singer who broke records in the 1970s with smash hits "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "I'm in You", recorded two songs about Megumi Yokota after watching the documentary, "ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story", on PBS. Titled, "Asleep At The Wheel" and "Suite Liberte", the songs are part of his latest album, "Thank You, Mr. Churchill".
See also
- Kim Hyon HuiKim Hyon HuiKim Hyun-Hui is a former North Korean operative responsible for the Korean Air Flight 858 bombing in 1987, which killed 115 people.- Early life :...
- North Korean abductions of JapaneseNorth Korean abductions of JapaneseThe abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan by agents of the North Korean government happened during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only 17 Japanese are officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted, there may have been as many as 70 to 80...
- North Korean abductions of South KoreansNorth Korean abductions of South KoreansAn estimated 84,532 South Koreans were taken to North Korea during the Korean War. In addition, South Korean statistics claim that, since the Korean Armistice in 1953, about 3,800 people have been abducted in North Korea , 480 of whom are still being held by North Korea.- Two types of Abductees...
Sources
- "Tokyo ‘Hiding Knowledge of Megumi Yokota’s Death’", The Chosun IlboThe Chosun IlboThe Chosun Ilbo is one of the major newspapers in South Korea. With a daily circulation of over 2,200,000, the Chosun Ilbo has undertaken annual inspections since Audit Bureau of Circulations was established in 1993...
, August 17, 2006. - "Until The Day We Sing Together", mylessenex.com, March 24, 2003.
- "Accounted For, At Last", TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
(Asia), September 24, 2002. - "Clues Found in North Korean Kidnappings", The Dong-a Ilbo, January 7, 2006.
- "U.S. folk star writes song about abductee Yokota", The Japan Times, February 16, 2007.
- "Parental love versus Kim Jong-il", By Kosuke TakahashiKosuke Takahashiis a Japanese journalist based in Tokyo, who writes in both English and Japanese. He currently works for Asia Times Online, Jane's Defence Weekly, Institutional Investor Magazine and Nikkei CNBC Japan. Previously, he had worked for The Asahi Shimbun and Bloomberg News as staff writer...
of Asia Times OnlineAsia Times OnlineAsia Times Online is a bilingual English‒Chinese, Internet-based newspaper covering geopolitics, politics, economics and business "from an Asian perspective"...
, April 28, 2009.
External links
- ABDUCTION: The Megumi Yokota Story site for Independent LensIndependent LensAiring weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.... - Blogs.wsj.com, Peter Frampton records two songs for Megumi
- KIDNAPPED! The Japan-North Korea Abduction Cases Interview with director Melissa K. Lee
- Until They Took Her Away