A former North Korean agent on Wednesday urged the government to help Japanese-born ethnic Koreans and their Japanese spouses who have defected from North Korea to this country, saying they are living under severe conditions without jobs or Japanese nationality.
The former agent, who goes by the name of Kenki Aoyama, also told a meeting organized by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan that his fellow North Korean agents have told him that there are nearly 80 Japanese who were abducted to North Korea.
Aoyama said there are more than 30 Japanese-born North Korean defectors currently living in Japan, but that they receive no assistance from the government and have uncertain legal status.