Japan Seeks Int'l Unity to Tackle N. Korea's Abductions

Geneva, Sept. 10 (Jiji Press)--Japan on Wednesday called on the international community to unite in helping resolve the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals at the earliest possible time. At a symposium held at the United Nations' European headquarters in Geneva, Eriko Yamatani, Japanese minister in charge of the abduction issue, said that the efforts to tackle human rights problems in North Korea are now at a critical juncture, noting, for example, that Pyongyang agreed in May this year to reopen its investigations into the abduction issue. Yamatani said she hopes to use the symposium as "a strategic opportunity" to make North Korea agree to accept the international community's engagement in the country's human rights problems. Following the May agreement, North Korea has launched reinvestigations into the whereabouts of people officially designated as abductees by the Japanese government and those who are not on the official list but are suspected to have been kidnapped by North Korean agents. At the symposium, which was sponsored by the Japanese government, Teruaki Masumoto, a senior member of an association of the families of abductees, said that relatives of victims are continuing to suffer pain. The international society's anger at North Korea's inhumane act will lead to the release of abductees, he stressed. Masumoto's elder sister, Rumiko, is on the official government list of abductees. She disappeared in the southern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima in August 1978 at the age of 24. Tamaji Takeshita, a relative of a suspected victim, said that abduction victims are desperately waiting to be released. The symposium was also attended by Marzuki Darusman, special U.N. rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, and Michael Kirby, former head of an international commission of inquiry that described North Korea's human rights violations as crimes against humanity in a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Marzuki stressed that the abduction issue is not only a bilateral problem between Japan and North Korea but one that concerns the international community, adding that any strategy aimed at addressing the issue therefore needs to have "a clear multilateral dimension." On North Korea's upcoming first report on progress in its reinvestigations, Japan's Yamatani told reporters that she wants Pyongyang to act sincerely, noting that Tokyo is aiming to bring all victims back home as early as possible. END