North Korea (What Everyone Needs to Know) by Patrick McEachern

Author:Patrick McEachern [McEachern, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

How has Japan tried to resolve the abduction issue?

Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang twice. In 2002 and 2004, he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang for the only two Japan-DPRK summits in history. Koizumi focused on the abduction issue and gained concrete concessions in terms of people’s lives. In September 2002, the two leaders signed the Pyongyang Declaration. In October 2002, Kim allowed five of the abductees to return home to Japan.1 The two leaders agreed that the abductees’ visit to Japan would be temporary, and that they would have to return to North Korea. However, Koizumi reneged on the agreement and kept the Japanese nationals. Kim responded by cutting off further talks.

Koizumi and his diplomats continued trying to secure the release of the remaining abductees. In 2004, Koizumi returned to Pyongyang for the second Japan-DPRK summit and secured the release of four children of Japanese abductees. North Korea calls the issue “resolved.” Japan does not.

North Korea claims that the rest of the Japanese abductees are dead and they had provided their remains. Japan rejected the claim that the others were dead, and a Japanese DNA test seemed to show that the bones did not belong to the abducted individuals. Unfortunately, the validity of the scientific test itself was questionable, and the testing destroyed the sample, precluding further testing. There has been no credible proof that any of the abductees are alive, but the Japanese government operates from an assumption that they are. The North Koreans have periodically offered “re-investigations” into the issue in exchange for economic rewards, such as relief from certain Japanese sanctions.

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