OSAKA -- November's U.S. presidential election will be watched with great interest and concern by relatives and other supporters of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea, who wonder what implications a Democratic victory might have for their cause.
"We don't believe that there would be a basic change in official American assistance of the Japanese abductees under (John) Kerry, as America has already plainly said this is a human rights problem," said Shigeru Yokota, chairman of the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea.
"But there are differences in the way that Kerry would deal with North Korea if he were elected president, and we don't know what those differences would mean in terms of strong American pressure on North Korea over the abduction issue."