North Korean abductions of Japanese - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The abductions of Japanese citizens from Japan
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...

by agents of the 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...

n government happened during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983. Although only 17 Japanese (eight men and nine women) are officially recognized by the Japanese government as having been abducted, there may have been as many as 70 to 80. The North Korean government has officially admitted abducting 13 Japanese citizens.

There are testimonies that many non-Japanese citizens, including nine European citizens, have been abducted by North Korea.

Background

Most of the missing were in their 20s, although the youngest, Megumi Yokota

Megumi Yokota

was one of at least 17 Japanese 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...

, was 13 when she disappeared in November 1977, from the Japanese west coast city of Niigata

Niigata, Niigata

is the capital and the most populous city of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It lies on the northwest coast of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, and faces the Sea of Japan and Sado Island....

. The North Korean government claims that she committed suicide in March 1994.

It is believed that the victims were abducted to teach Japanese language

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

and culture at North Korean spy schools. Older victims were also abducted for the purpose of obtaining their identities, but these abductees are believed to have been killed immediately. It is also speculated that Japanese women were abducted to have them become wives to a group of North Korea-based Japanese terrorists after a 1970 Japan Airlines hijacking

Japan Airlines Flight 351

Japan Airlines Flight 351 was hijacked by nine members of the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction on March 31, 1970 while flying from Tokyo to Fukuoka, in an incident usually referred to in Japanese as the...

, and that some may have been abducted because they happened to witness North Korean agents in Japan, which may explain Yokota's abduction.

For a long time, these abductions were denied by North Korea and were often considered a conspiracy theory

Conspiracy theory

A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...

. Despite pressure from Japanese parent groups, the Japanese government itself took no action because the now-defunct Socialist Party of Japan, which had maintained close ties with North Korea, vehemently denied the abductions. There are also claims that this issue is now being used by Japanese nationalists, including former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe

Shinzo Abe

was the 90th Prime Minister of Japan, elected by a special session of the National Diet on 26 September 2006. He was Japan's youngest post–World War II prime minister and the first born after the war. Abe served as prime minister for nearly twelve months, before resigning on 12 September 2007...

, to "further militarize", push for revision of the Constitution in order to allow Japan to have an army, revise the Basic Education Law and forward other political goals. However, such claims have been criticized by Kyoko Nakayama

Kyoko Nakayama

is a Japanese politician of the Sunrise Party of Japan, formerly of the Liberal Democratic Party , Machimura Faction, and currently serving her first term as a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet...

, the special adviser in Tokyo to the Japanese prime minister on the abduction issue, who said "This is about rescuing our citizens (from ongoing abduction). They deserve all possible support to regain their freedom and dignity. It is our duty to retrieve them." (see Norimitsu Onishi

Norimitsu Onishi

is a Japanese Canadian journalist. He currently heads the Southeast Asia bureau of the New York Times.-Career:Onishi was born in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. At the age of four, Onishi and his family immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada...

)

Talks between North Korea and Japan in 2002 and aftermath

On September 17, 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi

Junichiro Koizumi

is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...

visited North Korea to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...

. To facilitate normalization of relations with Japan, Kim admitted North Korea had abducted 13 Japanese citizens and issued an oral apology. He attributed the abductions to "some people who wanted to show their heroism and adventurism," and avoided taking the blame.

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

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 returned to Japan on October 15, 2002.

However, the Japanese government, listening to the pleas of the general public and the abductees' 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 repatriated victims were Yasushi Chimura and his wife Fukie, Kaoru Hasuike and his wife Yukiko, and Hitomi Soga

Hitomi Soga

Hitomi Soga is a Japanese woman who was abducted to North Korea together with her mother, Miyoshi Soga, from Sado Island, Japan, in 1978. She was "given" to and later married Charles Robert Jenkins, an American defector to North Korea, in 1980...

Children/spouses of returned victims reunited

The three children of the Chimura family and the two children of the Hasuike family, who were born in North Korea, were allowed to rejoin their parents in Japan following the second visit of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi to 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...

on May 22, 2004.

Hitomi Soga was able to reunite with her husband and children, but through a more circuitous route. Her husband, Charles Robert Jenkins

Charles Robert Jenkins

Charles Robert Jenkins is a former United States Army soldier who lived in North Korea from 1965 to 2004 after deserting his unit and crossing the Korean Demilitarized Zone.-Military service and desertion:...

, was a defector from the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

who fled to North Korea where he eventually met and married Soga. Fearing a court-martial

Court-martial

A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...

, Mr. Jenkins and their two daughters initially met Soga in Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, on July 9, 2004, eventually returning together to Japan on July 18. Two months later, on September 11, 2004, Jenkins reported to the army base at Camp Zama, Japan, served a light sentence after being found guilty of desertion and aiding the enemy, and was discharged dishonorably from the army. The family currently lives on Sado Island in Japan.

Further evidence and investigations

In November 2004, North Korea returned two human remains, stating that they were those of Megumi Yokota

Megumi Yokota

and Kaoru Matsuki, who the North claimed died after being abducted. Subsequent Japanese DNA testing determined that those remains belonged to neither of the two. However, the independent scientific journal Nature published an article highly critical of this testing, which was performed at Teikyo University by Tomio Yoshii, a relatively junior faculty member (lecturer) in a forensics department, without a professor being present. Yoshii later acknowledged that he had no previous experience in the analysis of cremated specimens. This mistake — intentional or not — further strained relations between Japan and North Korea and is discussed in more detail in the article on Megumi Yokota

Megumi Yokota

.

In an interview with Japanese police, Yasushi Chimura and Kaoru Hasuike, two of the abductees allowed to return to Japan in 2002, identified two of their abductors as 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....

(known also as Sin Kwang-su) and a man known as "Pak". The National Police Agency

National Police Agency (Japan)

The is an agency administered by the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office in the cabinet of Japan, and is the central coordinating agency of the Japanese police system....

has requested the arrests of Sin Gwang-su and Choi Sung Chol for the abductions of Japanese nationals. Sin reportedly told police in 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...

that he had been personally ordered by Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...

to carry out abductions.

In March 2006, Osaka police raided six facilities, including the North Korean Chamber of Commerce, in an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the June 1980 disappearance of one of the alleged abductees, Tadaaki Hara. All six facilities were linked to Chongryon

Chongryon

The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan , abbreviated to Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chae Ilbon Chosŏnin Ch'ongryŏnhaphoe in Korean or Zai-Nihon Chōsenjin Sōrengōkai in Japanese), abbreviated to Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents...

, a pro-Pyongyang Korean residents' organization in Japan. A police spokesman said that the head of Chongryon at the time was suspected of cooperating in his abduction.

Current situation

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.

By May 2004, five abductee victims and their families (10 in total) returned from North Korea. However, a number of alleged victims are still missing.

Although then Chief Cabinet Secretary

Chief Cabinet Secretary

__notoc__The of Japan is a Minister of State who is responsible for directing the Cabinet Secretariat. The main function of Chief Cabinet Secretary is to coordinate the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch...

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....

commented on December 24, 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.

The victims' support group has also looked to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

for help. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

, 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.

Later that year, the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

passed the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004

North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004

Signed into U.S. law by President George W. Bush on October 18, 2004, the North Korean Human Rights Act is intended to make it easier for the United States to assist North Korean refugees by:...

. In response to this, the South Korean ruling party, not wanting to damage North-South relations

North Korea-South Korea relations

North Korea–South Korea relations are the political, diplomatic, and military interactions between North Korea and South Korea, from the division of Korea to today.-The end of Korea under Japanese rule:...

, expressed concern. On the other hand, the victims' families and their supporters expressed gratitude toward the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

government and president.

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

On November 2, 2005, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

led 45 countries, including the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, the United States and Japan, in submitting a proposal condemning North Korea to the United Nations. On December 16, this proposal was passed by the General Assembly with 88 supporting, 21 opposing and 60 abstention votes. In particular, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

opposed this proposal and the South Korean government abstained. The proposal condemned North Korea for "systematic humanitarian violations" and mentioned the abduction issue, the existence of concentration camps and the abuse against North Korean defectors sent back to North Korea.

A working group dealing with human rights abuses has also been set up at the six-party talks

Six-party talks

The six-party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.There has been a series of meetings with six participating states:* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea ;...

.

United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...

expressed support for the abduction issue.

On April 27, 2006, Sakie Yokota, mother of abductee Megumi Yokota, testified in a United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

subcommittee about the abduction issue. The next day, Yokota met with US President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

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.

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

Victims officially recognized by the Japanese government

Seventeen nationals are officially recognized by the Japanese government as victims of the abduction issue. The sixteenth, Minoru Tanaka, was added to the list on April 27, 2005, following discovery of evidence supporting the assertion that he was abducted. The seventeenth victim, Kyoko Matsumoto, was added to the list in November 2006.

Name	Sex	Born	Circumstances of disappearance	Current status
Yutaka Kume	Male	ca. 1925	Disappeared September 19, 1977 from Noto Peninsula Noto Peninsula thumb\|right\|240px\|Landsat image with high-resolution data from Space Shuttle.Noto Peninsula is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan... , Ishikawa Prefecture Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is Kanazawa.- History :Ishikawa was formed from the merger of Kaga Province and the smaller Noto Province.- Geography :Ishikawa is on the Sea of Japan coast...	North Korea denies any involvement
Megumi Yokota Megumi Yokota was one of at least 17 Japanese 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...	Female	October 15, 1964	Disappeared November 15, 1977 from Niigata Niigata, Niigata is the capital and the most populous city of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It lies on the northwest coast of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, and faces the Sea of Japan and Sado Island.... , Niigata Prefecture Niigata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Honshū on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The capital is the city of Niigata. The name "Niigata" literally means "new lagoon".- History :...	Allegedly died March 13, 1994 in North Korea [date was originally announced as 1993 but was later corrected by Pyongyang]
Minoru Tanaka	Male	ca. 1950	Disappeared June 1978. Persuaded to go overseas, and taken to North Korea later.	North Korea denies any involvement
Yaeko Taguchi Yaeko Taguchi Yaeko Taguchi is a Japanese citizen, one of several kidnapped by North Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Taguchi worked as a bar hostess in Tokyo to raise her two children: a one year old son and three year old daughter, after divorcing her husband...	Female	August 10, 1955	Disappeared June 1978 from an undetermined place.	Allegedly died July 30, 1986 in North Korea. However, Kim Hyon Hui Kim Hyon Hui Kim Hyun-Hui is a former North Korean operative responsible for the Korean Air Flight 858 bombing in 1987, which killed 115 people.- Early life :... , the surviving bomber of Korean Air flight 858, denied North Korea's claim.
Yasushi Chimura	Male	June 4, 1955	Disappeared July 7, 1978 together with his fiancee Fukie Hamamoto near coast of Obama, Fukui Obama, Fukui is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.It faces Wakasa Bay due north of Kyoto, and is about four to five hours by train from Tokyo. As of October 1, 2005, the city had an estimated population of 32,185 and a population density of 138.22 persons per square kilometer... .	Alive (returned)
Fukie Hamamoto	Female	June 8, 1955	Disappeared July 7, 1978 together with her fiance Yasushi Chimura near coast of Obama, Fukui Obama, Fukui is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.It faces Wakasa Bay due north of Kyoto, and is about four to five hours by train from Tokyo. As of October 1, 2005, the city had an estimated population of 32,185 and a population density of 138.22 persons per square kilometer... .	Alive (returned)
Kaoru Hasuike	Male	September 29, 1957	Disappeared July 31, 1978 with his girlfriend Yukiko Okudo from coast of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Kashiwazaki, Niigata is a city located in Niigata, Japan.As of May 1, 2008, the city has an estimated population of 92,947 and the density of 210 persons per km². The total area is 442.70 km².... .	Alive (returned)
Yukiko Okudo	Female	April 15, 1956	Disappeared July 31, 1978 with her boyfriend Kaoru Hasuike from coast of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Kashiwazaki, Niigata is a city located in Niigata, Japan.As of May 1, 2008, the city has an estimated population of 92,947 and the density of 210 persons per km². The total area is 442.70 km².... .	Alive (returned)
Hitomi Soga Hitomi Soga Hitomi Soga is a Japanese woman who was abducted to North Korea together with her mother, Miyoshi Soga, from Sado Island, Japan, in 1978. She was "given" to and later married Charles Robert Jenkins, an American defector to North Korea, in 1980...	Female	May 17, 1959	Disappeared together with her mother Miyoshi Soga August 12, 1978 from Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture Niigata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Honshū on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The capital is the city of Niigata. The name "Niigata" literally means "new lagoon".- History :...	Married Charles Robert Jenkins Charles Robert Jenkins Charles Robert Jenkins is a former United States Army soldier who lived in North Korea from 1965 to 2004 after deserting his unit and crossing the Korean Demilitarized Zone.-Military service and desertion:... , a deserter from the United States Army United States Army The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services... , in 1980, and returned to Japan with him in 2004.
Miyoshi Soga	Female	ca. 1932	Disappeared together with her daughter Hitomi Soga August 12, 1978 from Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture Niigata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Honshū on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The capital is the city of Niigata. The name "Niigata" literally means "new lagoon".- History :...	North Korea asserted that Miyoshi Soga never entered the country.
Rumiko Matsumoto	Female	November 1, 1954	Disappeared August 12, 1978 from Fukiage Fukiage, Kagoshima was a town located in Hioki District, Kagoshima, Japan.On May 1, 2005 Fukiage was merged with the towns of Higashiichiki, Hiyoshi and Ijūin, all from Hioki District, to form the new city of Hioki and no longer exists as an independent municipality.... , Kagoshima Prefecture Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Kagoshima.- Geography :Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southwest tip of Kyushu and includes a chain of islands stretching further to the southwest for a few hundred kilometers... , 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 Fukiage, Kagoshima was a town located in Hioki District, Kagoshima, Japan.On May 1, 2005 Fukiage was merged with the towns of Higashiichiki, Hiyoshi and Ijūin, all from Hioki District, to form the new city of Hioki and no longer exists as an independent municipality.... , Kagoshima Prefecture Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Kagoshima.- Geography :Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southwest tip of Kyushu and includes a chain of islands stretching further to the southwest for a few hundred kilometers... , together with his girlfriend Rumiko Matsumoto	Allegedly died September 4, 1979 in North Korea
Toru Ishioka	Male	June 29, 1957	Disappeared May 1980 from Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... during a trip in Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...	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
Tadaaki Hara	Male	August 10, 1936	Disappeared June 1980 from Miyazaki Miyazaki, Miyazaki is the capital city of Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. Located on the coast and perforated by several rivers, Miyazaki City enjoys scenic views of both ocean and nearby, verdant mountains... , Miyazaki Prefecture Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Miyazaki.- History :Historically, after the Meiji Restoration, Hyūga Province was renamed Miyazaki Prefecture....	Allegedly died July 19, 1986 in North Korea
Keiko Arimoto	Female	January 12, 1960	Disappeared June 1983 from Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region... , Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... while studying English abroad	Allegedly died November 4, 1988 in North Korea.
Kyoko Matsumoto	Female	1948	Disappeared October 21, 1977 on her way to knitting class near her home	As of 2010, North Korea has given no response to Japanese demands.

Other abductions by North Korea

North Korea has also perpetrated abductions in South Korea

South Korea

, which has the highest number of citizens abducted by the North. The number of South Korean abductees is put at 485 or 486.

In December 1969, a Korean Air Lines YS-11 was hijacked by a North Korean agent soon after taking off from Gangneung

Gangneung

Gangneung is a city in Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 229,869 . Gangneung is the economic centre of the Yeongdong region of eastern Gangwon Province. Gangneung has many tourist attractions, like Jeongdongjin, one of the most famous towns in Korea...

. The pilot was forced to fly to and land in North Korea. The crew, aircraft, and seven of the passengers have yet to be returned. North Korea claims that this was an act of asylum

Right of asylum

Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...

by the pilot, but it is considered to be another case of abduction.

In the 1970s, many women were abducted from Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

and in July 1977 there was an attempt to abduct a Korean pianist/actress and her spouse from Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

. There were also incidents in which South Korean high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

students were abducted.

There are testimonies that several others have been abducted, including two Chinese (Macao), two Dutch, three French, three Italians, a Jordanian, four Malaysians and a Singaporean.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights

United Nations Commission on Human Rights

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...

has begun investigations on the Korean abductees. Abductee Hitomi Soga

Hitomi Soga

has also testified that citizens of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

and Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

were among the abductees. 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.

According to the Committee for Democratisation of North Korea (CDNK), North Korean agents are also believed to have abducted roughly 200 citizens of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

from the late 1990s onwards, mostly ethnic Koreans from frontier towns in northeast China

Northeast China

Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...

who provided aid to North Korean defectors

North Korean defectors

A number of individuals have defected from North Korea. Since the division of Korea after World War II and the end of the Korean War , many people have defected from North Korea, mainly for political, ideological, religious and economic reasons...

. The kidnap victims were then imprisoned in North Korea. The Chinese government reportedly has not officially requested the repatriation of any of these victims, a policy the CDNK describes as aimed at preserving harmony in the countries' bilateral relations.

Controversies

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
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

published an article in which Teikyo University

Teikyo 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...

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...

analyst who did the tests, Tomio Yoshii, acknowledged that the results could be 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.

External links

Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan, requesting information to resolve the issue
The abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea, Prime Minister of Japan and his Cabinet - Symbolic
North Korean Abduction Victims Worldwide, National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea
Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea
MEGUMI(Japanese animation) - English, animation short film about the abductee Megumi Yokota.
Noel Paul Stookey: Song for Megumi
THINK (Their Home Isn't North Korea)
Abduction - The Megumi Yokota Story (film about the most famous abduction case)
President George W. Bush meets with North Korean Defectors and Family Members of Japanese Abducted by North Korea Office of the Press Secretary, April 28, 2006, White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

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Background

Talks between North Korea and Japan in 2002 and aftermath

Return of five victims

Children/spouses of returned victims reunited

Further evidence and investigations

Current situation

Victims officially recognized by the Japanese government

Other abductions by North Korea

Controversies

See also

External links