Parents Met Granddaughter of Megumi Abducted to N. Korea

Tokyo, March 16 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Shigeru and Sakie Yokota met a daughter of their daughter Megumi abducted to North Korea, in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, last week. The parents met the granddaughter, Kim Hye Gyon, for the first time ever on Monday-Friday, the ministry said. The meeting was joined by Kim's family including an infant said to be her child. Regarding the announcement, a government official said the North Korean side repeated at the meeting the previous explanation that Megumi had died. Japan and North Korea agreed on a meeting between the parents and Kim during their unofficial talks in Shenyang, China, on March 3. The Japanese government has been considering a request from the parents for a meeting with the granddaughter. The parents, however, remained cautious about visiting North Korea for such a meeting, thinking their visit would provide an opportunity for Pyongyang to make Megumi's death, which they do not believe, a fait accompli. Apparently, the meeting thus took place in a third country. They said in a statement that "the meeting was really a miraculous event and gave us great pleasure." "We strongly wish that one event will prompt talks between Japan and North Korea to progress well and will lead to the rescue of all abduction victims," the handwritten statement said. Extremely fatigued, the parents are resting. They plan to hold a news conference Monday. Japan and North Korea are expected to hold unofficial section chief-level talks on the sidelines of a meeting of their Red Cross societies Wednesday-Thursday. North Korea's approval of a visit by Kim to Mongolia is seen as an indication of its positive stance toward resumption of official bureau chief-level talks between the two countries. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his strong willingness to resolve, during his tenure, the issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea, viewing the communist country's shift to rule by Kim Jong Un as a good opportunity. Still, the government finds the intention behind a North Korean conciliatory gesture uncertain and plans to carefully check whether recent developments will lead to a solution of the abduction issue, sources said. Megumi was abducted in November 1977 when she was returning home from a junior high school in Niigata, central Japan, after club activities. At a summit meeting between Japan and North Korea in September 2002, Pyongyang for the first time admitted to abductions of 13 Japanese and apologized, explaining eight of them, including Megumi, had died. Because no objective evidence was given, Japan has been demanding North Korea reinvestigate abductees. END