needs to change its approach to international society," said Shigeru Yokota, whose daughter, Megumi, was taken to the reclusive country in 1977 at age 13.
Yokota, who turned 77 on Saturday, and his wife, Sakie, 73, were among invitees to Suntory Hall in Tokyo where Obama touched on the abduction issue in a major address on his first trip to Asia since taking office in January.
"The path for North Korea to realize this future is clear: a return to the six-party talks; upholding previous commitments, including a return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; and the full and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Obama said.
"And full normalization with its neighbors can only come if Japanese families receive a full accounting of those who have been abducted," he said.