Yasushi and Fukie Chimura, who were abducted to North Korea 25 years ago and repatriated last October, said Sunday that North Korea appears to have told their daughter in the reclusive state that her parents are being detained in Japan.
In a letter received Saturday, the 21-year-old wrote that she has been told that her parents were detained while visiting Japan, the Chimuras, both 48, told a news conference in Obama, Fukui Prefecture.
The daughter was left behind in North Korea with her two brothers when her parents came to Japan on what was supposed to be a short trip. She did not say whether she was told the reason for the detention or that her mother and father are Japanese, they said. She was born in North Korea after her parents were abducted in 1978.