A 70-year-old woman from Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, returned to Japan on Monday from a trip to Pyongyang to visit her son, who disappeared while at sea in 1963 and now lives in North Korea.
Tomoe Terakoshi, who returned to Niigata on the cargo-passenger ship Mangyongbong No. 92, told reporters that the chance of her 51-year-old son Takeshi visiting Japan in the near future is slim.
"It is unlikely that Takeshi will make a visit home in the near future, as relations between Japan and North Korea are cooling," she said.
Takeshi disappeared while fishing in the Sea of Japan with his uncle and others in May 1963.