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A ceremony was held in Niigata City on Saturday to mark 37 years since Megumi Yokota, 13, was abducted by North Korean agents.
Megumi's parents, Shigeru, 82, and Sakie, 79, were unable to attend due to ill health but sent a video message instead from their home in Kawasaki, thanking everyone for their support.
Megumi's younger brother spoke, as did Abduction Issue Minister Eriko Yamatani, who said the government will not rest until Megumi and all the abductees are brought back home, NHK reported.
In her video message, Sakie said she hasn't given up hope for a miracle and just wants to hug her daughter.
Megumi, 13, was kidnapped on Nov 15, 1978, as she was on her way home from school in Niigata. She was taken by boat to North Korea, never to be seen in her homeland again.
For Megumi's parents, hopes of seeing their daughter again were dashed last week when a South Korean newspaper reported that Megumi had died from an overdose of sedatives and sleeping pills in a psychiatric ward in 1994 and was buried in a pit with other corpses.
After the story appeared in the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper, the Japanese government played down the report, based on interviews with North Korean witnesses who were on the staff of the hospital, could not be verified.
The Yokotas have made no public comments on the report. However, they and other relatives of abductees expressed concern this week that if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolves the lower house and calls a snap election, the abduction issue will once again be shoved aside.
© Japan Today/Thomson Reuters
6 Comments
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sensei258
"Megumi had died from an overdose of sedatives and sleeping pills in a psychiatric ward in 1994 and was buried in a pit with other corpses." How horrible for the parents, for that to be the last memory of their child. I hope they meet her some day.
C Harald Hansen
How dignified of North Korea, just throwing her in a hole like that... Shameful people in that regime. Hopefully it doesn't last much longer.
NathalieB
What happened in the end with the story about the girl who claimed to be Megumis daughter and their granddaughter? Was that ever verified? Was she able to shed any light on what happened to Megumi?
sensei258
Why would several of you thumbs down my 1st comment? Do you have no sympathy for the parents? Or are your views so jaded that when I said "I hope they meet her someday" you thought I meant the same fate instead of meeting her in heaven?
Yubaru
I highly doubt this will be the last memory that they have of their child. Their memories are of a 13 year old girl. They will meet someday, if you believe in an after-life that is.
Why do you care? Be happy in knowing that people actually read what you wrote. The world is full of people with conflicting opinions and that is what makes it fun.