Mother of Abductee Calls for Govt Action for Solution

Niigata, Nov. 15 (Jiji Press)--Sakie Yokota, mother of Japanese abductee Megumi, called on the Japanese government on Sunday to exercise its ability to bring her daughter and other victims back home from North Korea. "I want (the government) to tackle (the abduction issue) firmly and exercise its ability to get things done," Yokota, 84, said in a video message to a gathering held in Niigata, central Japan, to seek the resolution of the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents. Sunday marked the 43th anniversary of the abduction of Megumi, then a 13-year-old resident in Niigata. The gathering brought together some 200 people, with the number of participants limited to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. At the beginning of the meeting, the participants offered a silent prayer for Shigeru Yokota, father of Megumi, who died in June at age 87. Tetsuya Yokota, 52, a younger brother of Megumi, said: "We won't break down until all abduction victims return home. I'll inherit my father's unfulfilled wishes." Former abductee Hitomi Soga, 61, urged the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to rack its brain more than ever to bring a solution to the decades-old abduction issue. In an address, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, who is in charge of the abduction issue, said, "The fact that Shigeru was not able to be reunited with Megumi grieves us most deeply." Noting that the abduction issue is the most important challenge for the Suga government, Kato pledged that the government will "do all it can" to sort out the issue. END