The parents of a girl who has come to symbolize Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s voiced frustration with the lack of progress on the issue Wednesday — 40 years to the date since their daughter was kidnapped from her seaside town by agents of the isolated nation.

"Why can't we rescue her? I feel very strongly about this," Sakie Yokota, the 81-year-old mother of Megumi Yokota, told a news conference to mark her disappearance.

With dialogue between Tokyo and Pyongyang on the abduction issue stalled, Yokota voiced impatience with the government.