Abductions of Japanese Citizens by North Korea
Abductions of Japanese Citizens by North Korea
www.rachi.go.jp
Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan
Top page > Abduction of Japanese Citizens by North Korea > Individual Cases - 17 Abductees Identified by the Government of Japan
August 2009
The GoJ has identified the following 17 individuals as having been abducted by North Korea. (Age at time of abduction, sex, and location of disappearance are in parentheses.)
North Korea denies all knowledge of Yutaka Kume having entered North Korean territory. The Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for North Korean agent Kim Se-Ho, the main suspect in this case, in January 2003 and listed him with Interpol. The GoJ demands that North Korea extradite Kim to Japan. In the Japan-North Korea Comprehensive Talks held in February 2006, the North Korean side asserted that it knows nothing of a Kim Se-Ho and has asserted that, if Japan provides all relevant information, North Korea will launch an investigation to identify him. |
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The GoJ requested that North Korea provide information on her case at the 12th round of Japan-North Korea Normalization Talks held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2002 and at all three Japan-North Korea Working-Level Consultations held in 2004. During the third round of consultations, North Korea asserted that there is no evidence that Ms. Matsumoto had ever entered North Korean territory. Since November 2006, when the GoJ officially identified Kyoko Matsumoto as an abductee, the GoJ has repeatedly demanded that North Korea immediately allow her to return to Japan and provide a full accounting of her case. North Korea, however, has not responded. |
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During the third round of Japan-North Korea Working-Level Consultations in November 2004, North Korea claimed that Megumi Yokota died in April 1994 and handed over what it claimed were her remains. DNA analysis, however, indicates that some of the bones from these remains belong in fact to a different person or persons. Additional DNA analysis conducted in April 2006 by the GoJ indicated a high probability that Kim Young-Nam, a Korean citizen abducted from the Republic of Korea in 1978 when he was a high-school student, was married to Ms. Yokota. |
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The GoJ requested that North Korea provide information on this case at the 12th round of Japan-North Korea Normalization Talks held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2002 and all three Japan-North Korea Working-Level Consultations held in 2004. During the third round of consultations, North Korea asserted that there is no evidence that Mr. Tanaka had ever entered North Korean territory. Since April 2005, when the GoJ officially identified Minoru Tanaka as an abductee, the GoJ has demanded that North Korea immediately allow him to return to Japan and provide a full accounting of his case. North Korea, however, has not responded. |
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Kim Hyon-Hui, a former North Korean agent convicted of the bombing of a Korean Airlines jet in November 1982, claims to have been trained to blend into Japanese society by a woman named Lee Un-Hae. Lee Un-Hae is thought to be Yaeko Taguchi, a woman reported as missing in Japan. North Korea asserts that Ms. Taguchi married Tadaaki Hara in 1984 and, soon after Mr. Hara’s death from illness in 1986, died in an automobile accident. North Korea has, however, provided no documents or evidence to support these claims. At a meeting in March 2009 between members of the Iizuka family, relatives of Ms. Yaeko Taguchi, and Kim Hyon-Hui, important new information regarding the whereabouts of Ms. Taguchi (see note) was gained from Ms. Kim. The GoJ is currently working to confirm this information. |
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The two married in 1979 and returned to Japan in October 2002. Their daughter and two sons arrived in Japan in May 2004. In February 2006, the Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Sin Kwang-Su, the North Korean agent believed to be responsible for their abductions, and listed him with Interpol. The GoJ demands that North Korea extradite him to Japan. |
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The two married in 1980 and returned to Japan in October 2002. Their son and daughter arrived in Japan in May 2006. The Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant in February 2006 for a person known as Choi Sun-Chol, a North Korean agent believed to be responsible for their abductions, and in February 2007 also issued an arrest warrant for Han Myeong-Il (a.k.a. Han Geum-Nyeong) and Kim Nam-Jin, believed to be co-conspirators in these abductions. All have been listed with Interpol. The GoJ demands that North Korea extradite them to Japan. |
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North Korea asserts that the two married in July 1979, that Mr. Ichikawa died of a heart attack in September the same year, and that Ms. Masumoto died of a heart attack in 1981. North Korea has, however, provided no documents or evidence to support these claims. |
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Hitomi Soga returned to Japan in October 2002. Her husband (Charles Robert Jenkins, a US citizen) and two daughters arrived in Japan in July 2004. North Korea asserts that Miyoshi Soga never entered North Korean territory. The Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant in November 2006 for a person known as Kim Myong-Suk, a North Korean agent believed to be responsible for the abductions, and listed her with Interpol. The GoJ demands that North Korea extradite her to Japan. |
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North Korea asserts that Mr. Ishioka and Ms. Arimoto died in a gas poisoning accident in November 1988, but has provided no documents or evidence to support these claims. North Korea also asserts that Mr. Matsuki died in an automobile accident in August 1996. In September 2002, and at the Third Japan-North Korea Working-Level Consultations held in September 2002 and November 2004, North Korea handed over remains possibly belonging to Mr. Matsuki, but analysis in Japan indicates that these remains contain DNA belonging to someone else. The Japanese authorities issued arrest warrants in June 2007 for Junko Mori and Sakiko Wakabayashi (nee Kuroda), wives of Yodo-go members, who are believed to be responsible for these abductions, and listed them both with Interpol. The GoJ demands that North Korea extradite them to Japan. |
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North Korean agent Sin Kwang-Su has confessed to authorities in the Republic of Korea that he was responsible for the abduction of Mr. Hara. Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Sin Kwang-Su as the person responsible for the abduction, and listed him with Interpol. The GoJ has demanded that Sin Kwang-Su be extradited to Japan, and in April 2006 issued a new arrest warrant that names him as the main suspect in this abduction case. Showing no willingness to extradite him to Japan, North Korea has instead honored Sin Kwang-Su as a hero. Japanese authorities have also issued an arrest warrant for Kim Kil-Uk, believed to be a co-conspirator in the abduction of Mr. Hara, and are working on the steps necessary to list him with Interpol. North Korea asserts that Mr. Hara married Yaeko Taguchi in 1984 and that he died of hepatic cirrhosis in 1986. North Korea has, however, provided no documents or evidence to support these claims. |
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The ex-wife of a Yodo-go member has acknowledged that she abducted Ms. Arimoto in cooperation with North Korean authorities. In September 2002, Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Kimihiro Uomoto (formerly Kimihiro Abe), a Yodo-go member believed to be responsible for the abduction, and listed him with Interpol. The GoJ demands that North Korea extradite him to Japan, but North Korea has shown no willingness to comply. North Korea asserts that in November 1988 Ms. Arimoto and Mr. Toru Ishioka died in the same gas poisoning accident, but has provided no documents or evidence to support these claims. |
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