Few could have remained unmoved by the happiness of the elderly Shigeru and Sakie Yokota televised after their meeting in Mongolia with Kim Eun Gyong, daughter of their daughter, Megumi Yokota, who had been abducted by North Koreans from Japan back in 1977 at age 13.

But why did Megumi's parents have to wait so long for that happy meeting?

Tokyo is trying to suggest that North Korea has only just now begun to open up, following recent talks between the Red Cross societies of both countries. But that is strange. It is well known that North Korea had offered long ago to allow a meeting first in Pyongyang and later in 2010 in any third country of choice. It was Tokyo that refused.