The family of a Chiba Prefecture woman who has been missing for more than 30 years filed a lawsuit against the state Wednesday, demanding that she be officially recognized as having been abducted to North Korea.
Relatives of Noriko Furukawa, who disappeared at age 18 after she left home in July 1973, filed the suit with the Tokyo District Court. It is the first suit to demand state recognition of an abduction victim.
In the lawsuit, the relatives accuse the government of not providing specific procedures for such recognition under the abduction victim support law. The family said that the absence of such procedures means relatives of missing persons are unable to apply for official recognition.