TOKYO (Kyodo) — Family members of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago urged the government on Sunday to resolve the long-standing issue with a sense of urgency after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced his resignation.
Sakie Yokota, the 89-year-old mother of Megumi Yokota, an iconic abductee who was taken at age 13 in 1977, said the abductees’ lives are “at stake” as she renewed her call for the government to secure their return to Japan.
“I want the government to act quickly,” she said in a statement.
In a hastily called press conference on Sunday, Ishiba announced his intention to step down as premier. After weeks of resisting pressure from his own Liberal Democratic Party to resign over the poor outcome of the national election this summer, he yielded to the call for fear that remaining in power would create a deep rift within the already embattled ruling party.
“It is extremely regrettable that I was not able to make progress” on the abduction issue, Ishiba told the press conference at his office.
Representing a group of family members of the abductees, Megumi’s younger brother, Takuya, pushed the government to redouble its efforts under new leadership and explore a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“We want all the victims to return swiftly to Japan once and for all,” Takuya, 57, said in a statement.
Megumi is one of 17 Japanese nationals officially listed by Japan as having been abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Since 2002, when five of them were repatriated, no one has returned to Japan. Pyongyang maintains that the issue has been resolved.
Kin urge renewed focus on longstanding N. Korea abduction issue as Japan PM resigns
