In Lankov's view, the North Korean government will "probably think twice" before making similar confessions in the future. Japan retaliated by trying to isolate North Korea by cutting trade and other exchanges. What was intended to be a gesture of honesty was met with outrage within both the Japanese government and the general public, as the allegations that were previously thought of as conspiracy theories had proved to be true. Īccording to Russian scholar Andrei Lankov, the North Korean disclosure was a strategic mistake. For several reasons, the Japanese government and NGOs question whether or not those eight people are actually dead. Kim Jong-il, apologizing for the abductions ĭuring the meeting, North Korea also provided death certificates for eight people whom the North claimed were dead, but admitted in 2004 that these certificates had been hastily drafted shortly beforehand. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize straightforwardly for the regrettable conduct of those people. As soon as their scheme and deeds were brought to my attention, those who were responsible were punished. It is my understanding that this incident was initiated by special-mission organizations in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, driven by blindly motivated patriotism and misguided heroism. It was, nevertheless, an appalling incident. Decades of adversarial relations between our two countries provided the background of this incident. "We have thoroughly investigated this matter. To facilitate normalization of relations with Japan, Kim admitted North Korea had abducted at least 13 Japanese citizens and issued an oral apology: On September 17, 2002, then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited North Korea to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for the First Japan-North Korea Summit, which eventually resulted in the Japan-North Korean Pyongyang Declaration. Talks between North Korea and Japan in 2002 and aftermath It is our duty to retrieve them." (See Norimitsu Onishi.) They deserve all possible support to regain their freedom and dignity. Such claims have been criticized by Kyoko Nakayama, the special adviser in Tokyo to the Japanese prime minister on the abduction issue, who said "This is about rescuing our citizens. There are claims that this issue has been used by Japanese nationalists, including former Japanese Prime Ministers Yoshihide Suga and the late Shinzō Abe, to "further militarize", push for revision of the Constitution to reduce constitutional limits on the army, revise the Basic Education Law, and pursue other political goals. Despite pressure from Japanese parent groups, the Japanese government took no action. įor a long time, these abductions were denied by North Korea and its sympathizers (including Chongryon and the Japan Socialist Party) and were often considered a conspiracy theory. It is speculated that Japanese women were abducted to have them become wives to a group of North Korea-based Japanese terrorists belonging to the Yodo-go terrorist group after a 1970 Japan Airlines hijacking and that some may have been abducted because they happened to witness activities of North Korean agents in Japan, which may explain Yokota's abduction at such a young age. Older victims were also abducted for the purpose of obtaining their identities. Some of the victims were abducted to teach Japanese language and culture at North Korean spy schools. Most of the missing were in their 20s the youngest, Megumi Yokota, was 13 when she disappeared in November 1977, from the Japanese west coast city of Niigata. Although North Korean agents were suspected, the opinion that North Korea had nothing to do with the disappearances was widely held.
The people who had disappeared were average Japanese people who were opportunistically abducted by operatives lying in wait. In the 1970s, a number of Japanese citizens disappeared from coastal areas in Japan. 2.3 Further evidence and investigations.
2.2 Children/spouses of returned victims reunited.2 Talks between North Korea and Japan in 2002 and aftermath.