Allegations that North Korean agents have abducted Japanese are a frame-up and Tokyo should pledge money to the United Nations to help the state's starving citizens, according to a former senior U.N. official who teaches at Saitama University.
Yasuhiko Yoshida, a professor of international relations, said Tokyo should send 1 million tons of redundant rice on humanitarian grounds in addition to other forms of aid. "Humanitarianism means helping out people who are in trouble and dying," he said, noting he is not happy about North Korea's privileged class alone enjoying comfortable lives and the undemocratic nature of the country.
The former director of the public information division at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yoshida has visited North Korea three times since 1994. His contacts have included Hwang Jang Yop, the country's top ideologue, who defected to the South Korean mission in Beijing in February and is currently seeking asylum in South Korea.