On Thursday, the US ambassador to the UN reaffirmed America’s support for Japan until all Japanese people kidnapped by North Korea come home and put an end to their tragic separation.
While meeting with the relatives of the abducted people on Thursday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield delivered the remarks.
During the 1970s and 1980s, North Korea allegedly kidnapped seventeen Japanese nationals and may have abducted many more to train them to be spies.
In 2002, after North Korea admitted it had kidnapped thirteen Japanese nationals, the country issued an apology and let five of the victims return home. They have been in Japan ever since.
As for the other four, Pyongyang claimed they never entered its territory and never carried out the promised reinvestigation while claiming eight more had perished.
Twelve people, including teenagers and residents of coastal areas of Japan, have gone missing. A large number of them were loaded into tiny boats and sent to North Korea across the sea.
Throughout her career, Thomas-Greenfield has reportedly focused on topics about North Korea.
The abductees’ safe return has been a recurrent goal of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
According to experts, Kim is looking to strengthen relations with Japan to exacerbate tensions between the US and its allies, while Kishida hopes to utilize any developments in the abduction case to reverse his party’s declining popularity at home. People claim a meeting won’t happen because Japan won’t give in to Pyongyang’s demands to end the kidnapping crisis.
Sakie Yokota, 88, spoke with Thomas-Greenfield about the abduction of her daughter Megumi in 1977. Megumi was 13 years old and was walking home from school when she was stolen. Yokota, her husband, and Megumi’s siblings spent 20 years searching for her before they learned about the abduction. She said that they are still anticipating their reunion.