| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
advertisement | ||
Saturday May 13, 7:25 PMYokotas meet Thai foreign minister to discuss N. Korea abduction(Kyodo) _ The parents of Megumi Yokota, a Japanese victim of abduction by North Korean agents, met with Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon in Tokyo on Saturday to discuss the suspected abduction of a Thai woman to North Korea.Kantathi requested the meeting with Shigeru and Sakie Yokota, whose daughter Megumi was abducted to North Korea in 1977 at age 13, and other relatives of Japanese abduction victims. Teruaki Masumoto, 50, whose older sister Rumiko was abducted in 1978 at age 24, and Shigeo Iizuka, 67, whose younger sister Yaeko Taguchi was taken to North Korea in 1978 when she was 22, also attended the talks at a Tokyo hotel. After the meeting, Kantathi told reporters he had held meaningful talks and that the Thai government believes the woman, Anocha Panjoy, is in North Korea and will urge Pyongyang to cooperate in having her contact her family in Thailand. Shigeru Yokota said he explained to the Thai foreign minister that many Japanese were abducted to North Korea mainly around 1977 and 1978 and that the Japanese government has recognized 16 of its nationals as abduction victims. Yokota said he also informed Kantathi about activities in Japan to rescue any Japanese abductees remaining in North Korea. The foreign minister asked questions such as why North Korea had abducted people from other countries, according to Yokota. Kantathi has expressed his hope of meeting the former U.S. army deserter Charles Jenkins, who now lives in Japan and claims to have met a missing Thai woman believed to be Anocha in North Korea when he lived there. Reports of the possible abduction of Anocha emerged after Jenkins, who lived in North Korea for almost 40 years until 2004, said in his memoirs published last year that he had met her. North Korea has denied having abducted the woman. Jenkins now resides in Japan with his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga whom he met in North Korea. Soga was abducted by North Korean agents in 1978. |
|||
|
2005 Kyodo News © Established 1945. All Rights Reserved.
|