Tag - abductions

 
 

ABDUCTIONS

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2024
Tokyo police confirm death of North Korea abduction suspect
Kim Kil Uk, was on the international wanted list for the June 1980 abduction of Tadaaki Hara.
Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend the opening ceremony of the Gangdong Greenhouse in North Korea in this picture released on March 16.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2024
North Korea reaches for familiar playbook in talks with Japan
Pyongyang blowing hot and cold on a potential leaders summit is meant to gain the upper hand in negotiations to realize such a meeting.
Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a top adviser to her brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Tuesday that Pyongyang had ruled out holding a leaders' summit with Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 26, 2024
North Korea rules out summit with Japan and rejects more talks
The sister of leader Kim Jong Un said that a meeting was not of interest to the North, alluding to Tokyo's unyielding stance on the abductions issue.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister said Monday that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has requested a summit with her brother, hinting that any meeting was unlikely without a policy shift by Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2024
Japan reaching out to North Korea for Kim-Kishida summit
The sister of leader Kim Jong Un said any summit would hinge on whether Japan was willing to make a "political decision" — likely on the abductee issue.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 26, 2024
Families of North Korea abductees give Japan breathing room for summit
The group won't oppose Tokyo's lifting of sanctions on Pyongyang if all abductees are returned while their parents' generation is still alive.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Thursday that a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2024
North Korea-Japan summit push gains steam after remarks by Kim’s sister
A visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Pyongyang could materialize, but only if Tokyo met several caveats, Kim Yo Jong said.
Kazuhiro Araki, head of the Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea (COMJAN), said that the issue of abductions would not be resolved unless the government put the unrecognized abductees on its official list and negotiated with North Korea.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2023
Families seek reunion with kin possibly abducted to North Korea
Their advanced age and a lack of information about the missing cause them increasing frustrations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2023
Kishida hopes for change in North Korea's stance toward dialogue
Kishida has recently reiterated his determination to resume talks with North Korea to resolve Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2023
For Sakie Yokota, one of two living North Korea abductee parents, resolving issue remains priority
Yokota, 87, marked the third anniversary of her husband's death with an expression of concern over resolving the issue of people kidnapped by the reclusive regime.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2023
Kishida eyes talks with Kim to resolve North Korea abduction issue
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Sang Gil has said that there is no reason for North Korea and Japan not to meet if Japan seeks a way of improving relations.
JAPAN
May 1, 2023
Group supporting abductee Megumi Yokota's family turns 20
Photos of Megumi are exhibited around Japan and abroad to call attention to the parents' persistent wish to rescue their daughter.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2022
Hitomi Soga vows to continue speaking out on abductions by North Korea
'I want to communicate my agony, loneliness and mortification as much as possible,' said Soga, who was abducted in 1978.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan