The government is set to provide financial and other support for Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea and their family members who return to Japan. On Thursday the Lower House unanimously passed a special bill for this purpose, which is due to clear the Upper House next week and take effect Jan. 1, 2003.
For now, the measure will apply to the five abductees who returned home last month, leaving their family members behind in Pyongyang. It is a small step, however, considering the great hardships they have suffered for the past 24 years as well as the anguish of the parents who have continued fruitless searches for their children for as many years.
The new legislation amounts to a tacit admission of neglect on the part of Japanese authorities. The abductions, carried out by North Korean agents in 1978, constitute a serious violation of Japanese sovereignty, yet the problem has yet to be resolved. There are also other abductees whose fate is still unknown. The government must collect more information about them and, if they are confirmed to be alive, do everything it can to secure their return home.