Abductee Story Fascinates Japan Press

The Japanese media showed keen interest in the reunion of Kim Young-nam and his mother on June 28.

They were curious about what happened to Megumi Yokota, Kim Young-nam’s wife, who was kidnapped by the North Korean regime when she was 13 years old. In 1994, North Korea announced that Megumi Yokota had died.

Broadcasting companies Japan showed the reunion of the South Korean abductee and his families with the facial expressions of Megumi Yokota’s parents.

Megumi Yokota’s mother, Sakie Yokota, could not stop herself from weeping when she saw the reunited families hugging each other in tears. However, when asked about her feelings, she said, “I feel very complicated because I think this whole thing is not truthful. I certainly feel happy for the families who were able to see each other again, but I don’t think it is right to refer to ‘abductees’ as ‘separated families’ and make them meet in the abducting country. [Kim] won’t be able to tell the truth about my daughter under those circumstances.”

Megumi’s father, Shigeru Yokota, said, “South Korea and Japan have different ideas about the kidnappings. However, I would like to see both countries working together to help the families get together again.”

The dominant view in Japan is that North Korea would make Kim Young-nam and his daughter, Kim Hye-kyung, to say that Megumi Yokota is dead in order to end all the doubts related to her abduction.

Meanwhile, the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea revealed a letter written by a man named Kim Chul Jun, supposedly the name used by Kim Young-nam in North Korea. Kim gave this letter to the commission group of the Japanese government visiting Pyongyang in September 2002, asking it to give it to the Yokotas.

The council said, “According to the letter, Kim Young-nam said, ‘In 1993, a tragedy struck, and we lost Yokota Megumi because of a disease.’ If Kim Young-nam really is the writer of this letter, this proves that any remarks made by abductees under the influence of the North Korean regime is not truthful. If he did not write the letter, it means that the North Korean government gave us a false letter.”

North Korea has said that Megumi Yokota died in 1993 and then corrected the date to 1994.

Young-A Soh sya@donga.com