Tokyo forums last week involving Japanese, South Koreans and Thais whose kin were kidnapped by Pyongyang have given the abduction issue greater global import, reckons Kyoko Nakayama, the government's point woman, who hopes her past efforts as a diplomat to Central Asia to free Japanese hostages can someday help her bring home any compatriots still alive in the North.
As special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a Pyongyang hardliner bent on resolving the abduction issue, Nakayama believes now is the time to put greater pressure on the North to free any remaining victims, despite the Stalinist state's claim that no more Japanese abductees remain alive there.
She also adheres to the Tokyo policy line of not normalizing relations until the issue is resolved to Japan's satisfaction.