MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2023) A 64-year-old Japanese woman, abducted to North Korea decades ago and then repatriated in 2002, urged Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to hold negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to ensure that all kidnapped Japanese are reunited with their families, Japanese media reported on Wednesday.
Last month, Kishida expressed his readiness to hold a meeting with the North Korean leader "as soon as possible" to discuss, among other things, one of the most pressing issues in the Japanese-North Korean ties � Pyongyang's kidnappings of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. Tokyo has accused North Korea of kidnapping at least 17 Japanese citizens. Five of those kidnapped were able to return to Japan following former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to North Korea in 2002 and 2004.
Hitomi Soga, one of the five Japanese who returned home in 2002, met with Kishida on Wednesday. Her 91-year-old mother is among those who are still waiting for the Japanese government to secure their return to homeland, the Kyodo news agency reported.
North Korea said eight of the Japanese citizens in its territory had died, but Japan considers the evidence of their deaths to be false and demands the extradition of all its citizens. Pyongyang also said that another four Japanese deemed kidnapped never arrived in North Korea.
