National Apr 3, 2021
LDP urges Suga to ask Biden to put great value on North Korean issues, including the abduction problem, in his administration's strategy toward China, which has close ties with North Korea.
Commentary / Japan Nov 1, 2020
Suga needs new tack on the North Korea abductee issue
by Michael MacArthur Bosack
With the abduction issue continuing to inform the Suga administration's North Korea policy, the government must adjust its approach if it hopes for progress.
National Dec 12, 2017
by Eric Johnston
Jenkins, who spent nearly 40 years in North Korea as a prisoner, lived in Japan with his family after his release in 2004.
National / Politics Dec 12, 2017
The U.N. Security Council on Monday took up the issue of human rights in North Korea, with the body's human rights chief saying the worsening security situation in the region is hurting efforts to bring home Japanese nationals abducted by the reclusive state. "No progress ...
National Nov 15, 2017
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 ...
National / Politics Nov 6, 2017
Trump meets abductees' kin and pledges to work with Abe to bring them back to Japan
by Reiji Yoshida
In a half-hour meeting, the U.S. and Japanese leaders lend an ear to the Japanese families who have been waiting for their kidnapped loved ones to return.
National / Politics Sep 22, 2017
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and U.S. President Donald Trump affirmed Thursday in New York they will work together to call on the international community to strengthen pressure on North Korea, including through the stringent enforcement of U.N. sanctions. In light of the threat ...
National Sep 14, 2017
Former victim alarmed by declining interest in North Korean abductions of Japanese
Hitomi Soga, a former abductee to North Korea, on Wednesday voiced concern about the waning public interest in the issue. "I feel the public is gradually losing interest in the abduction issue," Soga, 58, told a news conference in the Sea of Japan island city ...
National / Politics Feb 22, 2017
Abe makes fresh resolution to bring back Japanese abducted by North Korea
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Wednesday he had made a new resolution to bring back as soon as possible Japanese nationals kidnapped decades ago by North Korea. Abe made the statement after meeting with members of a group representing families of abductees at the prime ...
National Dec 19, 2016
Japan to broadcast radio program for North Korea abductees on more frequencies
The government plans to broadcast its shortwave radio program aimed at Japanese abductees in North Korea on more frequencies in the next fiscal year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. The program, "Furusato no Kaze" ("Wind from the Homeland"), is broadcast in Japanese and Korean, ...
National Feb 3, 2016
Megumi Yokota's mother calls for urgency on North Korea abductions ahead of 80th birthday
A woman whose daughter was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977 at the age of 13 has called on the Japanese government for greater urgency over bringing her home. Sakie Yokota was speaking Wednesday, a day before her 80th birthday. "We have done everything we ...
National Jan 14, 2016
U.N. human rights expert to visit Japan as part of North Korea investigation
A U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, will make a five-day visit to Japan from Monday to gather information on human rights abuses by Pyongyang, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said. "I will use this mission to Japan to ...