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Japan to send abduction probe team to N. Korea

Posted June. 02, 2014 06:32,   

한국어

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, a spokesman of the Japanese government, said on Sunday that Tokyo will send a team of investigators to check whether North Korea is probing the Japanese citizens who were abducted or went missing, as agreed at the talks in Stockholm. “Unlike in 2008 when we agreed to reinvestigate the abduction issue, we documented our agreement. The Japanese investigation team’s stay is also documented,” he said on NHK. “If necessary, we will send a team of investigators from the Foreign Ministry and the National Police Agency to make the investigation more effective.”

Secretary Suga said on the impact of the North Korea-Japan agreement on the alliance of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, “There is no impact at all. We will work with related countries for the important issues in the negotiation (implementation) process.”

Mainichi Shimbun said recently, “Last year, North Korea informed Japan that a majority of the `specially designated missing persons` are living in North Korea.” The “specially designated missing persons” are those who are likely to have been abducted by North Korea and the number is known to be around 470 people (estimated by the group investigating specially designated missing persons). If the news report is correct, this means that Pyongyang already has the information of the specially designated missing persons and this could expedite the reinvestigation process in North Korea.