Tag - north-korea-japan-relations

 
Menu
Search
 
May 15, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

NORTH KOREA JAPAN RELATIONS

Takuya Yokota speaks during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 5, 2025
Relatives urge North Korea to release abductees
The news conference was held after members of the association returned from a trip to the United States.
A group of families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago and a group of Japanese lawmakers tackling the abduction issue at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2025
Families of abductees in North Korea meet with U.S. official
"We reiterated that there is not much time left for the generation of the abductees' parents," said Takuya Yokota, head of the family group.
Takuya Yokota, the leader of a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago (left), asks people for signatures to seek their return during a campaign held in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2025
Family members of North Korea abductees hold Tokyo campaign to seek their return
Meanwhile, in Washington, 17 members of U.S. Congress sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to "prioritize" the return of the Japanese abductees.
Classmates and others planted cherry trees on Thursday in the city of Niigata, praying for the swift return of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korea.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2025
Abductee Megumi Yokota's classmates donate cherry trees to school
Megumi's father, Shigeru, photographed her standing in front of cherry trees at Yorii junior high school seven months before she was kidnapped.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a news conference on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office. Hayashi has cited Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile development programs as well as its abduction of Japanese nationals as reasons for Japan's extension of sanctions on North Korea.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2025
Japan to extend sanctions against North Korea for two years
Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile development programs, and its abduction of Japanese nationals were cited as reasons.
Two Japanese men are suspected of helping an IT worker from North Korea create an account for a job-matching service by sending driver's license photos and other information to the IT worker in September and October 2020.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2025
Pair suspected of helping North Korean IT worker pose as a Japanese citizen
Police in Tokyo believe the IT worker was involved in North Korea's efforts to obtain foreign currency.
Kaoru Hasuike, who was abducted by North Korea before returning to Japan, speaks on Wednesday in Shimada, Shizuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025
Former abductee urges Japan to work with U.S. to press North Korea
Kaoru Hasuike said that the abduction issue "has not been resolved."
Akihiro Arimoto (left), accompanied by his wife, Kayoko, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in 2002. Arimoto, the father of a girl who was spirited away to North Korea more than four decades ago and remains unaccounted for, died late Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2025
Akihiro Arimoto, father of girl abducted by North Korea in 1983, dies
His death at the age of 96 is a sign of how long the issue has dragged on, with most parents of abductees having now died without finding out what happened to their loved ones.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba raised North Korea's past abduction of Japanese nationals during his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2025
Head of abductees' families relieved over Japan-U.S. talks
Takuya Yokota, 56, is a brother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korea in 1977 when she was just 13 years old.
Sakie Yokota speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Jan. 10 after meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2025
Abductee families seek pressure on North Korea as Trump returns
A leader of a group of North Korean abductee families called on the government to deepen the bond between their leaders.
People hold an anti-Japan rally in Seoul in July 2019 following Tokyo's decision to tighten controls on exports to South Korea.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2025
North Korea incited anti-Japan sentiment in the South
North Korea aimed to fan the flames of anti-Japanese sentiment over issues like wartime labor and the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks with students from Okayama University about the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago, in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Japan ready to team up with Trump over North Korea abduction issue
In a symposium on the issue held by the Japanese government in Tokyo, Hayashi condemned North Korea, saying, "In essence, it is an infringement of national sovereignty."
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks on Saturday in Tokyo at a rally that was held by a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 24, 2024
Ishiba shelves proposal for liaison offices with North Korea amid rising tensions
The Prime Minister has expressed his commitment to resolving the abduction issue, as well as his willingness to hold talks with Kim Jong Un.
Sakie Yokota, 88, speaks during a news conference in Kawasaki on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2024
Mother of North Korea abductee laments lack of progress over issue
"I wonder why this issue has dragged on so long," said 88-year-old Sakie Yokota. Her daughter, Megumi Yokota, went missing 47 years ago.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, director of Hiroshima Hidankyo and a co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, hopes the U.S. will strive for a world free of nuclear weapons.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 7, 2024
With Trump’s return, Japanese advocacy groups seek renewed U.S. support
Groups representing atomic bomb survivors and the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea hope the new administration will back their causes.
Sakie Yokota, the mother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, meets with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2024
Ishiba meets families of North Korean abductees for first time as PM
The prime minister expressed a willingness to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to resolve the abductions.
Sakie Yokota shares her thoughts ahead of her abducted daughter's 60th birthday, on Thursday in Kawasaki.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2024
Sakie Yokota expresses hopes for a reunion on daughter's 60th birthday
Megumi Yokota was abducted by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13. If a reunion is realized, "I just hope to hug her silently," Sakie said.
Takuya Yokota, who leads the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, speaks during an event to spread awareness of the abduction issue among junior high school students on Aug. 9 in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 12, 2024
Government ramps up efforts to raise awareness on North Korean abductions
There are concerns that the issue, which has dragged on for decades, is slipping from the public’s awareness, particularly among younger generations.
Then U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024
North Korea wants to restart nuclear talks if Trump wins, says ex-diplomat
The former diplomat said North Korea has also set Russia, the U.S. and Japan as its top foreign policy priorities.
A vapor trail believed to be created by a North Korean ballistic missile is seen from South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island near the two countries' maritime boundary on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 26, 2024
North Korea missile launch ends in midair explosion, Seoul says
The launch came as the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier visited South Korea for joint military exercises with Seoul and Tokyo.
Transport ministry issues warning to Haneda Airport operator
The operator of Tokyo's Haneda Airport has been warned by the government over its inappropriate transactions.
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
One month on, Osaka Expo urged to boost heat and crowd control measures
A gate to the Osaka Expo site is crowded with visitors on Monday.
Xi defiance pays off as Trump meets most China trade demands
Then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits a school in South Gate, California, in February 2012. Experts say Xi won big in his standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Japanese retailers turn to California rice for cheaper alternative
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass eats California rice at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday along with Mitsuko Tsuchiya, vice president of retailer Aeon.
Sumo title contenders already emerging in early stages of Tokyo meet
Onosato (left) battles Abi on Day 3 of the Summer Basho in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
Tokyo Stock Exchange wants stocks to be affordable for the average investor
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Nihonbashi. The exchange wants companies to lower the entry cost of investing in their shares.
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER