The dramatic public appearance of Kim Young Nam, a South Korean who was believed kidnapped to North Korea, shed no new light on the mystery surrounding the abduction in 1977 of Megumi Yokota, who later became his wife.

Despite Pyongyang's claims, echoed by Kim, that Yokota killed herself in 1994, her family remains unconvinced that she is dead.

But observers in Tokyo said Kim's tearful one-time reunion Wednesday with his mother and sister at a North Korean resort and news conference the next day make at least one thing clear: The North wants to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Seoul over the abduction issue.