After 20 years, North Korea’s abduction problem remains unresolved

Tokyo, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)–The issue of North Korea’s kidnapping of Japanese citizens remains unresolved 20 years after a historic summit in Pyongyang between the leaders of the two countries.

“It is extremely regrettable that many abduction victims are still in North Korea. We will do our utmost to bring them all home as soon as possible,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday during a briefing. a press conference.

At the first-ever Japan-North Korea summit on September 17, 2002, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il first admitted to Pyongyang’s kidnappings of Japanese citizens decades earlier and issued an apology.

At the summit, Kim told then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that five abductees were alive, while claiming that eight others, including Megumi Yokota, were dead.

Koizumi and Kim signed the Pyongyang Declaration for a comprehensive resolution of the issues of North Korea’s abductions and nuclear and missile programs, as well as an early normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]