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The Star
3 days ago
- General
- The Star
Japanese mother of abductee frustrated by lack of resolution to issue; no abductees have returned to Japan from North Korea since 2002
Sakie Yokota speaks during a press conference next to a photo of her deceased husband Shigeru in Kawasaki on Tuesday (June 3, 2025). - Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun KAWASAKI, (Japan): The mother of a Japanese woman abducted by North Korea said she is saddened by the absence of her husband and frustrated at 'not being able to resolve the situation.' Sakie Yokota, 89, spoke at a press conference in Kawasaki, where she lives, on Tuesday (June 3), two days before the fifth anniversary of her husband Shigeru's death. Their daughter Megumi was kidnapped when she was 13. Shigeru became the first representative of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, which was formed in 1997. Shigeru traveled across the country, making appeals to resolve the issue. However, he was never able to reunite with his daughter. On Tuesday, Yokota recalled how her husband always ate the food she prepared and told her how delicious it was. '[Shigeru] talked to me about everything,' she said. 'He was a very kind person.' Regarding the abductees, five returned to Japan in October 2002, but since then, not a single person has been returned. Yokota said she talks to Shigeru's photo, which she keeps in the living room, every day. She tells him, 'It has been so long and there has been no change.' Akihiro Arimoto, the father of another abductee Keiko Arimoto, who was abducted when she was 23, died in February at 96, leaving Yokota as the only member of abductees' parents' generation still alive. 'I don't know if I will ever be able to see [Megumi] again either,' Yokota said. 'I hope the government will work on the issue more seriously.' - Yomiuri Shimbun
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese Mother of Abductee Frustrated by Lack of Resolution to Issue; No Abductees Have Returned to Japan from North Korea Since 2002
The Yomiuri Shimbun Sakie Yokota speaks during a press conference next to a photo of her deceased husband Shigeru in Kawasaki on Tuesday. KAWASAKI — The mother of a Japanese woman abducted by North Korea said she is saddened by the absence of her husband and frustrated at 'not being able to resolve the situation.' Sakie Yokota, 89, spoke at a press conference in Kawasaki, where she lives, on Tuesday, two days before the fifth anniversary of her husband Shigeru's death. Their daughter Megumi was kidnapped when she was 13. Shigeru became the first representative of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, which was formed in 1997. Shigeru traveled across the country, making appeals to resolve the issue. However, he was never able to reunite with his daughter. On Tuesday, Yokota recalled how her husband always ate the food she prepared and told her how delicious it was. '[Shigeru] talked to me about everything,' she said. 'He was a very kind person.' Regarding the abductees, five returned to Japan in October 2002, but since then, not a single person has been returned. Yokota said she talks to Shigeru's photo, which she keeps in the living room, every day. She tells him, 'It has been so long and there has been no change.' Akihiro Arimoto, the father of another abductee Keiko Arimoto, who was abducted when she was 23, died in February at 96, leaving Yokota as the only member of abductees' parents' generation still alive. 'I don't know if I will ever be able to see [Megumi] again either,' Yokota said. 'I hope the government will work on the issue more seriously.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Families of Japanese Abducted by North Korea Fly to U.S. to Seek Cooperation; Group Set to Meet U.S. Govt Officials
The Yomiuri Shimbun Takuya Yokota, left, head of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, speaks to reporters at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday before departing for the United States. Family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea and lawmakers from a cross-party parliamentary group departed for the United States on Tuesday to seek cooperation from Washington over the issue. The group are expected to meet with officials from the U.S. State Department and lawmakers from the Congress in Washington. This is the group's first visit to the U.S. in about a year, and the first since the inauguration of the second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Sakie Yokota, 89, the mother of abductee Megumi Yokota who was taken when she was 13, is the only surviving parent of an abductee after Akihiro Arimoto, the father of abductee Keiko Arimoto who was taken when she was 23, died in February at the age of 96. 'We've been seeking that [the abductees] will be able to reunite with their family members while their parents are alive,' said Takuya Yokota, 56, a younger brother of Megumi who heads the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, before departing from Tokyo's Haneda Airport. 'Not much time remains so we want to tell [the U.S. side] that Japan and the United States need to cooperate to deal with the issue.' Yokota said he was bringing items such as a photo of Keiko Arimoto, and a copy of a letter which Akihiro had previously received from Trump. 'I want to focus on the abduction of Keiko on behalf of Akihiro to make her case stand out,' he said. Kocihiro Iizuka, 48, the eldest son of Yaeko Taguchi who was abducted at 22, said, 'To bring relief to family members, strong backing by the United States is necessary. I want to ask again for the United States to bring up the abduction issue during talks with North Korea.' The family members will stay in the United States through May 3, when they will also visit a think tank to exchange opinions about North Korean situations.
