Abductee Megumi Yokota died in 2004, not in 1994 as claimed by Pyongyang, a South Korean activist said Friday, citing an official document obtained from a source in the hermit state.
Choi Seong Ryong, who heads a support group for relatives of South Koreans abducted to the North, said the document, which was kept at a health ministry-related agency in Pyongyang, shows that Yokota, who was abducted from Japan in 1977 at age 13, died of "depression" on Dec. 14, 2004.
He said he also obtained transcripts confirming the deaths of six South Korean abductees. North Korea claimed in 2002 to then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government that Yokota, whom its agents abducted in 1977, committed suicide in 1994.