Japan turns to U.N. to pressure North Korea on abductees

I really dont understand why North Korea still wants to keep those Japanese in their land because there are bargaining tool. the longer it goes on the more desperate Japan will become as the parents slowly pass away. sanctions dont work against NK and there isnt really anything Japan can do other than monetary rewards. NK know this and are just milking Japan for all its worth.

What would Japan say if NK's official response was:

"The abduction issue is eternally regrettable."

@Schopenhauer

Noth Korea says Megumi Yokota is dead. I agree. The parents of Megumi insist she is still alive and appear very often on media appealing the Japanese government to demand North Korea to return their daughter. This is too much and enough

well if you agree it must be true then

本当に腹が立つよねー

I think a few of you people are missing the point here a little bit too heavily. You guys are seriously comparing war atrocities from the last world war with things that happened long after.

Not only that, but you seem to forget that these abductions took place BEFORE Abe. So where is all that "Japan got its just desserts" bullcrap coming from? There's a difference between flat out war-crimes and taking people hostage for political goals.

I'm stunned how nonchalantly and lightly some of you guys can throw around double-standards and compare things which are not related to each other in the slightest. It shows that some of you guys are not even a tad bit better than the "Japanophile war-crime apologists".

Truly disappointing and actually disgusting to a certain degree to say the least...

I have a favor to ask of all of you who engage in this behavior.

If you try to bash, at least do it in a way you're not completely and utterly embarassing yourselves and your questionable morality. I won't name anyone, you know who you are.

That is all. I still wish you guys a nice day, regardless.

Japan turns to the UN.....how ironic. If Mr Ane had made proper amends for the sex slaves - abducted from across the >Korean Peninsula - then this move wouldn't be necessary. A genuinely remorseful Japan would've received far greater >cooperation in their investigations

All the previous apologies by Japan made no difference. N Korea apparently has no intention of resolving this despite promises to do so. Don't confuse one thing with another.

Japan should stop all contact with the Norks until this issue is resolved

Sorry but we are talking about abduction issues and not about sexual slave. Stop behaving like kids and lets discuss the topic in a responsible manner. If you dont like Japan and are not interesting on getting more details about this topic, so go to another topic. Im pretty sure that if it had happened with you guys too, you would do the same that those families are doing. Parents love their children and they have the rights to demand details about a issue that is still unclear.

I personally think it is ridiculous to use sexual slave in this topic as if it had common relation with abduction. It would be the same that using Abu Ghraib prison to relate to several kidnapping cases made by extremists. Regardless of government decision(Japan or The USA) being wrong or not, the government should and must demand those who kidnapped or abducted protection of their citizens.

It's getting to just being repulsive how people are tying the wartime atrocities to the unfortunates who are spirited into the night by NK, to just literally disappear off the face of the earth.

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way intending to side with the right winger revisionists or excuse their antics, but the victims have nothing to do with the war, and did not live in those times.

It's almost like people are giving up on them because of what happened in the war. It's almost like as if people are just saying that "too bad so sad here", almost like a case for doing nothing about this, or to help these people.

@Silvafan

Are you serious? You are justifying a crime with another crime. By your logic, Germans could be abducted by Russians/Americans just for Germany's role in the last war, and it would be Germany's fault too! To defend such a concept is simply foolish.

I refuse to defend Japan's crimes, but I also refuse to defend North Korea's crime. Both sides did bad things. However, you can not use a past crime to justify another crime. If that worked, we'd have a lot more murderers on the loose, wouldn't we?

"You did something wrong to me, so I am right to do something wrong to you in return."

Mindsets like these are the oil that keep the gears of war running. And you're defending such a mindset. It is truly saddening. This is exactly what I mean by "questionable morality". I thank you for being such a good example of what I actually mean and wish you a nice day.

When UN made N Korea as UN member? ///does anyone Know?

Wise ole' Takako, Doi said the issue was getting old and encouraged everyone to move on. (she was criticized for her comments on the abductees issue).

Tokyo/Pyongyang relations have been terrible for long enough. Expect no resolve on the abductees.

I agree with Furan. Some comments of questionable morality come from their ignorance about the true history. Japan has made efforts to compensate for the war by various approaches, not only financial support but also economic assistance of technical cooperation while expressing apology and remorse by successive ministers. In addition to those compensation, Japan has bilateral agreement on the diplomatic ties with each country, but not yet with NK. The NK's "resolved" is totally different from Japan's "resolved".

By the way, didn't the US army commit crimes during the war??? Did US make apology for its mass killings? It is said about one million people (most of them were innocent citizens) by air raids targeting major cities such as in Tokyo and Osaka, and as everyone knows about 200,000 citizens were perished by two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The abductions of Japanese, South Koreans, or even Thai, Rumanians and Lebanese, are the North Korea's government-lead organized crimes, and there is no doubt that Pyongyang knows who's alive, who's dead, or who's in Pyongyang and who's in the labor camps. Kim 1.0 devised the tactic, Kim 2.0 perfected it, and Kim 3.0 is simply following the playbook.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families but the Japanese government has never explained or even hypothesised about what possible incentive North Korea might have to lie about any remaining hostages still being alive. The remaining hostages were used for training spies, so it's not difficult to imagine that they were killed immediately after the training, with their bodies being dumped in some mass grave.

If fact, North Korea has a huge financial incentive to string Japan along for more aid and removal of sanctions by claiming that all the hostages are still alive or that they had children who are still alive and wish to move to Japan etc etc... but North Korea doesn't do this. Why? Perhaps because North Korea isn't lying when it says that the remaining hostages really are dead? Is it really that hard to imagine that nobody in that disgusting backwards country kept any records or remembers where the bodies were dumped? I suspect Japan will never be satisfied until North Korea falls and they have a chance to examine every square inch of the country with a fine tooth comb.

Not me. When hell freezes, I guess. Good question toshiko-san.

@JapanGal: If I were Mr. Yokota, I would not smile every time the camera is put on me. THis man must show anger instead.

So you think this is a movie acting reheqrsal !

So what exactly does Japan think the UN will do? Put on more sanctions? The sanctions have failed again and again.

Oh I know, the UN will write a very stern letter letting Kim Jr. know how upset the collective UN mind is.

Kidnapping and human trafficking is a very serious international problem that countries need to work together on. I hope the families of the missing will eventually receive closure. However, I also think the time has come for the Japanese national and local governments to address the serious risk involved with allowing young children to commute to and from school with no adult supervision. Young children are easy targets for kidnappers, rapists and other sick individuals. I bet many of the Japan abductees were taken by North Korea because they had no supervision.

@ChristopherGlenthe sex slaves - abducted from across the Korean Peninsula

When, who were abducted by the Japanese government??? You cannot have the evidence. Asahi Shinbun retracted articles about Yoshida testimony which reported about "kidnapping" in Jeju.There are classified-adds to recruit comfort women. They were not slaves, but paid quite a good salary.

How about putting pressure on China since they're the only country propping up this nation?

It is very sad what has happened to the Yokota family and many others and my heart goes out to them. But, here is the problem. Look at the graph. Japan abducted over 3 million people in WW2. Many were murdered and are included in the total number murdered by the Japanese Imperial Army (estimates range from 10 million to 14 million). The world will NEVER take Japan seriously until its current leaders admit to and learn from its past. The only country which has influence on NK is China. Millions of their citizens were murdered by Japan and so very sadly they consider this a non issue. I don't think therefore, the issue will be resolved.

DVDexpert - There are some things to consider:

1- This year was the anniversary of the end of WWII. After the war, Japan sent back those Koreans to their land.

2- Many Koreans after realizing that their hometown was in terrible condition went back to Japan(now as Korean citizens)

3-In 1965 Japan and Korea start a movie(at least Japan thought it was a move) and made treat that restored the relation between the 2 countries.

4-Japan paid compensation demanded by K-Government and the K government used the money to invest in their infrastructure.

5-The reason why NK kidnapped Japanese and S Koreans has nothing to do with revenge but to cooperate with their spy agencies.

The North Korean government most probably does know much more about the fate or locations of the abducted but it's also possible that the Japanese government also knows something that is being kept secret. It doesn't take much imagination to think what might have happened to one or two of the abducted and what they have been doing and may be doing right now.

Mitsuo san,

Yes, you make some good points.. But the fact remains that however terrible, NK's atrocities are a drop in the ocean compared to what Japan committed in the years up to 1945. So, when Abe et. al. and senior figures in Japan play down what Japan did 70 years ago, you can be sure when Japan goes begging to the U.N. for attention and help, they will not be taken seriously. This concept is a bit like the U.S. pressuring other countries to stop producing nuclear weapons: the only 2 times nuclear weapons were used to murder innocent people, was by the U.S. History teaches us that without changing tack, Abe, Obama et. al. are doomed to fail. I just feel very sad for people like Megumi's parents. When Megumi was taken, her parents' lives were taken too.

@Furan

100% agree with you. Double standard at its finest. With their "let's not forget what Japan did 70 years ago" theory, 9/11 would be justified, Palestine would be just another karma, pretty much any conflicts and wars in the world would be "well, take this, remember what you did XXX years ago?"

What's worse, those are the very people who repeatedly say, "I am so sick of Japan's 'this country committed this war crime, too,' 'that country had camp followers, too'—we are strictly talking about Japan's war crime!"

(But then, they never fail to compare Imperial Japan with Nazi as well as how Germany has apologized and how Japan hasn't—so their double standard didn't happen today.)

NK know this and are just milking Japan for all its worth.

But North Korea is not actually doing this are they? That's what is so illogical about those who are convinced that the abductees are all alive.

Why say that Megumi Yokota is dead if she is actually alive? Is North Korea secretly passing up the opportunity to demand a reduction in sanctions today in exchange for her release because they think she will be a valuable bargaining chip for even worse sanctions that may or may not come in 2020 or 2025? Does she know too much about the 1990s North Korea spy network? It simply doesn't make sense.

What would make perfect sense is to find a woman who looks like Yokota and pretend it's her and say that she refuses to return to Japan until the sanctions are lifted on North Korea. Thankfully, North Korea hasn't stooped to this level, which makes me think they are actually telling the truth this time. I would love to be convinced that North Korea is lying and that everyone is still alive but I don't see any logical arguments for it. Sadly, I think the only people being milked here are the Yokotas, and it's the right wing media and Japanese government who are doing the milking.

"Japan turns to U.N. to pressure North Korea on abductees"

I hope those abductees were not abused as sex slaves, forced laborers, human experiments, etc. If they have, they are sick bastards and they owe great apologies to Japanese people. Japanese leaders should go to the shrine and pray for those poor souls, and pray that anyone who committed such heinous crimes should burn in hell.

The JapanToday has a poll asking if people are tired of hearing about the Chinese and Koreans complaining about WWII. I would love to see the next poll with the same question only with "abduction issue" as the main point.

@Furan

When is war not political? I think you are missing the point! If there were no war crimes then maybe there would be no abductions. A lot of the relationship issues that Japan has been facing is directly due to their role during last Great War. To believe otherwise is simply foolish.

4 Good Bad Moon1MAY. 06, 2015 - 09:27AM JST Japan turns to the UN.....how ironic. If Mr Ane had made proper amends for the sex slaves - abducted from across the >Korean Peninsula - then this move wouldn't be necessary. A genuinely remorseful Japan would've received far greater >cooperation in their investigations All the previous apologies by Japan made no difference. N Korea apparently has no intention of resolving this despite promises to do so. Don't confuse one thing with another.

I am not. But there's the figure of 13 Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, and 200,000 Korean nationals abducted by Japan. The latter seems to show little interest in resolving the issue of the sex slaves - preferring to malign them instead. And for that matter Korea hasn't accepted Japan's apologies because Abe, Hashimoto and Ishihara have undermined them with their denials. So until Japan properly comes to terms with the hundreds of thousands of Koreans it abducted as sex slaves, how can it expect full transparency over the 13 Japanese abducted by North Korea? And North Korea is clear about exactly what they abductee the Japanese for. Thus these 2 issues are linked

4-Japan paid compensation demanded by K-Government and the K government used the money to invest in their infrastructure.

There is a difference between paying "blood money", and teaching people correct history. Japan has only done the former. Japan should really have done both

Tohka: "It's almost like people are giving up on them because of what happened in the war."

No, it's people not taking Japan as seriously as it should because Japan does not take others seriously when it comes to facing up to the past and atrocities it committed. And that's part of what this is about -- not specifically what happened in war and what did not -- but Japan demanding one nation be held accountable for its actions in the past while it does not hold itself accountable for the same. Hell, you could even mention Japanese spouses kidnapping children and spiriting them away back to Japan and you'd have people saying, "That's not related. We shouldn't talk about that!"

It is indeed a shame that politics are taking the limelight when it comes to treating this issue seriously, but seriously what do you expect? One nation can't pick and choose when something is important and when it is not. How many of you guys take it seriously when NK complains about a nation's human rights record? NONE! and rightly so given NK doesn't address its own problems with the matter. That's Japan and historical misdeeds, and the lack of resolution on such issues.

Furan: "There's a difference between flat out war-crimes and taking people hostage for political goals."

There's no difference in the denial of wrong-doings, plain and simple. So this whole 'double standards' thing you guys are throwing out -- it's you guys saying "in one case it's okay, in the other it is not".

And who the hell is saying, "Japan got its just desserts"? NO ONE is saying these people deserved to be kidnapped, or Japan deserves to be ignored -- people are saying that until Japan addresses history and refuses to resolve issues (which it says are resolved!!!) they cannot demand another nation resolve other issues and expect the obvious and very relatable comparisons to be made.

You want people to stop making double standards, start with yourself.

Sorry, but the abduction issue has been resolved. NK said so, just like Japan says other issues have been resolved and it should no longer be brought up. You guys just don't like it when the show is on the other foot.

Furan: "I refuse to defend Japan's crimes, but I also refuse to defend North Korea's crime. Both sides did bad things."

Absolutely, but only one side on here says that one side's bad deeds should be forgotten and not addressed. None of us, on the other hand, have said NKorea's deeds should not be addressed, save out of sarcasm to point out the hypocrisy. BOTH need to be properly addressed in order that they be resolved. The problem is when one nation/group says it is resolved in one case when it is not, but not in the other when it is also not. THAT is the double standard!

samwatters: "The JapanToday has a poll asking if people are tired of hearing about the Chinese and Koreans complaining about WWII. I would love to see the next poll with the same question only with "abduction issue" as the main point."

Noth Korea says Megumi Yokota is dead. I agree. The parents of Megumi insist she is still alive and appear very often on media appealing the Japanese government to demand North Korea to return their daughter. This is too much and enough.

Japan turns to the UN.....how ironic. If Mr Ane had made proper amends for the sex slaves - abducted from across the Korean Peninsula - then this move wouldn't be necessary. A genuinely remorseful Japan would've received far greater cooperation in their investigations

"“All Japanese citizens feel as though their own family members have been abducted,”

And yet, many rightists here DEMAND South Korea, China, and many other nations forget about the atrocities visited on them by the Japanese, screaming and shouting that "Koreans/Chinese make a big deal out of it" and, "It's history, it should be forgotten and we should move on", etc. And yet, compared to more than TEN MILLION slaughtered by Japanese, and THOUSANDS repeatedly raped, you have just over a handful of Japanese nationals kidnapped and Japan can suddenly never forget, it is suddenly the feeling of ALL Japanese nations, and now they are saying it's "Not just Japan's problem, but the world's". Talk about the pot calling the kettle black (and then forgetting it's the pot). Even on this thread you have rightists saying any talk of Japan's past misdeeds is 'unrelated' and 'should not be discussed', trying to brush aside the fact that they are DIRECTLY related and that if Japan wants to be taken seriously they need to first make amends for their own misdeeds.

As it is, NK can simply say, "The issue is resolved. Why doesn't Japan move on already?" and they would be doing EXACTLY what Japan has been doing for some time (again, forgetting the fact that what Japan did was millions and millions of times worse).

I really dont understand why North Korea still wants to keep those Japanese in their land.

If I were Mr. Yokota, I would not smile every time the camera is put on me. THis man must show anger instead.