Police raided six locations Thursday, including an Osaka business group affiliated with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), over North Korea's abduction of Tadaaki Hara in 1980, they said.
Police suspect a 74-year-old ex-chief of the business group, who also runs a Chinese restaurant in Osaka, was involved in Hara's abduction. Hara worked as a cook there when he disappeared at age 43. The group, the restaurateur and the eatery weren't identified.
The raids marked the first compulsory investigation by police into Hara's case after they obtained an arrest warrant last month for North Korean agent Sin Guang Su, 76.