Japanese Government Rejects North Korea's Offer to Return Abducted Japanese - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2022) Japan's government under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rejected North Korea's offer to return two men believed to have been abducted by North Korean intelligence services in the last quarter of the 20th century, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Friday, citing sources close to the negotiation process.

Tokyo says that the North Korean secret services have kidnapped at least 17 Japanese citizens since the 1970s, while Pyongyang admitted only 13 cases. Five of them were able to return to Japan following former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to North Korea in 2002 and 2004. North Korea says eight more abductees died, but Japan considers the evidence of death presented to be false and demands the extradition of all its citizens. The remaining four people have never crossed the North Korean border, Pyongyang says.

Pyongyang in 2014 made a proposal to Japan to return Minoru Tanaka, whose name is on the government list of 17 Japanese abducted by North Korea, as well as Tatsumitsu Kaneda, one of more than 800 possible abductees, the sources said.

According to the sources, the Japanese government rejected this proposal, fearing that this would enable North Korea to completely close the issue of the abducted Japanese. In addition, Tanaka, whose return was announced by Pyongyang, was on the North Korean list of those who never crossed the North Korean border. Pyongyang did not explain this inconsistency in any way.

"We thought it was an unacceptable proposal," one of the sources said.

In addition, the Japanese government feared that the men, even if they returned, could again leave for North Korea, refusing to settle down in their homeland, the sources added.