A North Korean man claimed by Pyongyang to be the husband of abductee Megumi Yokota sent a letter to her parents in 2002 and asked them to visit North Korea, a Seoul newspaper reported Monday.
In an interview with the Dong-A Ilbo at their Kawasaki home, Shigeru and Sakie Yokota said they received the letter from a man named Kim Chol Jun.
"The man who was said to be our son-in-law sent a letter written in his own handwriting to us, saying Megumi had died and extending an invitation to us," they were quoted by the daily as saying.
The letter was conveyed to the Yokotas through the Japanese delegation that visited North Korea when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a landmark visit to Pyongyang in 2002, the newspaper said.
The Yokotas rejected the offer because they did not believe their daughter was dead.
"We would have had to believe our daughter had died if we visited North Korea, and (we) would have been taken to our daughter's grave by the so-called son-in-law. We could never believe our daughter has died."