As more and more relatives of the Japanese abducted by North Korean agents more than four decades ago get older, the little progress made in resolving the issue has come into sharp focus. The clock is ticking for the families, and the Japanese government is struggling to find a way forward.
"I don't know what to say when I think of the families who continue to wait. I feel the urgency, that there is no time to lose," Katsunobu Kato, minister in charge of the abduction issue, said in an address at a symposium in Tokyo on Saturday.
Recent deaths have been a reminder of how much time has passed since five Japanese abductees were repatriated in 2002. Former U.S. soldier Charles Jenkins, who deserted to North Korea and there married Hitomi Soga, one of the five who returned, died last week at 77, and the mother of another abductee, Rumiko Masumoto, died at 90.