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| Sakie Yokota, the mother of Megumi Yokota who was abducted by North Korea in 1977, speaks during a news conference in Kanagawa Prefecture after the U.S-North Korea summit in Singapore on Tuesday. (Photo by=Satoko Kawasaki/ Japan Times) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] Family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s renewed their call Saturday for the return of the missing and demanded clearer action on the issue from Japan and the United States following a bilateral summit.
President Joe Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the immediate resolution of the abduction issue during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington on Friday, the president's first in-person meeting with a foreign leader since assuming office. Suga also said at a joint press conference that their countries "will work together to seek an immediate resolution by North Korea." Sakie Yokota, 85, whose daughter Megumi was abducted when she was 13 in 1977 on her way home from school in Niigata Prefecture, welcomed the commitment.
Tokyo has been struggling to resolve the issue with Pyongyang. Suga, who served as state minister in charge of the abduction issue under his predecessor Shinzo Abe, has said he is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "without preconditions." Japan officially lists 17 people as having been abducted by North Korea, with five already repatriated in 2002 following landmark talks between the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
