Kaoru Hasuike, one of five Japanese repatriated last October after being abducted to North Korea in 1978, will teach a Korean class starting Thursday, Kashiwazaki municipal officials said Monday.
Hasuike, 45, will be in charge of an eight-week language course for beginners meeting every Thursday until Feb. 27 in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, the officials said. Seven people have signed up for the class, which is run by a private organization, they said.
The group asked Hasuike to help out after a student from South Korea who normally teaches the class became unable to do so. It offered to pay him appropriate remuneration, the officials said, without disclosing the figure.
The development was reported at a meeting at the city government of a panel to promote and assist the resettlement of Hasuike and his fellow abductee wife, Yukiko, 46, as well as their two children, should Pyongyang allow them to come to Japan.
At the meeting, Tomoka Kudo, 24, who was hired by the Kashiwazaki government last Wednesday as a part-time caseworker assigned to help the Hasuike couple with everyday needs, said she hopes to do her best although her job will probably not be a long one.