The Japanese government has announced DNA analysis results that indicate that the daughter of Ms. Megumi Yokota, a Japanese abducted by North Korean agents in 1977, was very likely fathered by a South Korean man also abducted by the Pyongyang regime in the 1970s, a Mr. Kim Young Nam. There is now a strong possibility that Mr. Kim Young Nam was Ms. Yotoka's husband. This undermines North Korea's explanation that Ms. Yokota's husband is a North Korean man by the name of Kim Chol Jun. In light of these findings, North Korea should release full information concerning Ms. Yokota and her husband, as well as information on other Japanese people abducted by its agents. The findings also offer a foundation for cooperation between Japan and South Korea to press North Korea to disclose the truth about abductions.
At Tokyo's request, Seoul provided DNA samples from relatives of five South Korean men believed to have been abducted to North Korea. The government then entrusted those South Korean samples and DNA samples from Ms. Yokota's daughter, Kim Hye Gyong, to two Japanese universities for testing. Both university tests established a probability of 99.5 percent and 97.5 percent, respectively, that Mr. Kim Young Nam is related by blood to Ms. Yokota's daughter.
The Japanese government announced the DNA test results while key negotiators to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear-arms programs were in Tokyo to attend an academic forum on security issues in Northeast Asia. North Korea refused to accept the announcement, calling it an attempt to foment a bitter dispute between North and South Korea.