One of four male high school students abducted from South Korea in 1977 to 1978 is reportedly alive in North Korea after marrying a Japanese woman who may also have been abducted by Pyongyang, the head of a group of South Korean abductees' family members said Wednesday.
Choi Song Ryong said he obtained the information from a North Korean source in 2006.
Meanwhile, sources close to Japan-South Korea relations said they have been informed that abductee Yaeko Taguchi, who was taken in 1978, married a South Korean abductee in North Korea.
Japanese and South Korean authorities have investigated the authenticity of such information and whether the tips have common ground, the sources said.
Choi said he obtained the information while helping seven abductees get out of North Korea.
In 2004, Choi gained information that another Japanese abductee, Megumi Yokota, married a South Korean believed to have been taken to North Korea.
Through DNA analysis in spring 2006, the Japanese government confirmed that the South Korean is Kim Young Nam, who was abducted from South Korea in 1978.
Kim was taken from the Yellow Sea coast in western South Korea, the same location where the four South Korean students went missing.
The South Korean government suspects North Korea abducted the five with the purpose of training them as instructors for espionage activities against the South.