Several Japanese abducted as children and taken to North Korea in the 1970s and '80s are hoping that the upcoming talks between the two nations may bring some closure to their ordeal — although the issue is far from resolved for families whose relatives remain missing.
May 22 marks ten years since North Korea returned abductees to Japan to be reunited with their parents. It comes less a week before the talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang in Sweden, with the agenda to include talks on the abductions.
"For those of us who returned sooner, it is heartbreaking to see no progress on the abduction issue," former abductees Yasushi and Fukie Chimura, both 58, said Tuesday in a statement released by their municipality, the city of Obama, Fukui Prefecture.