Tokyo’s abduction inspection team visits N.K. in 10 years

The Japanese government sent a government delegation on Monday to re-examine the issue surrounding Japanese people who had been abducted to North Korea in 10 years since November 2004.

According to Japanese media, the Japanese delegation that departed Beijing and arrived in Pyongyang on Monday will figure out the investigation progress of Japanese abductees while interviewing the North Korean authority on Tuesday and Wednesday. The delegation is comprised of 10 people, including Junichi Ihara, director-general of the Foreign Ministry`s Asian and Oceanian Bureau, and senior officials from the Cabinet Secretariat and the National Police Agency.”

During their stay in Pyongyang, they are expected to meet with Seo Dae Ha, councilor for security at the North’s National Defense Commission and deputy head of the State Security Department, who also serves as chairman of the Special Committee on Abductees.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday, “The delegation will clarify to the head of the North’s special investigation committee that the abductee issue is the top priority.” It means that the Japanese government will place top priority on confirming the situation and whereabouts of 12 Japanese people, excluding five who already returned alive to Japan, who Japan had officially admitted.

However, eight family members of the "specific people who went missing," which the Japanese government predicted are highly likely to have been kidnapped to the North, held a press conference at the parliamentarians’ hall in Tokyo on Monday morning, urging the their government to rescue any ethnic Japanese who can be rescued rather than putting priority on the 12 abductees.