ID :
42742
Tue, 01/27/2009 - 14:07
Auther :

U.N. rapporteur to continue pressing N. Korea on abduction cases+

TOKYO, Jan. 26 Kyodo - An independent U.N. investigator on human rights in North Korea assured Japan on Monday he will continue to take up the unresolved issue of Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese nationals to raise international awareness and cooperation, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

U.N. special rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn told Foreign Minister Hirofumi
Nakasone in talks that the lack of progress on solving the abductions was
regrettable and expressed his support for Japan's demand that the North
responsibly conduct a reinvestigation of the cases, ministry officials said.
Muntarbhorn, in Japan on a six-day visit since Friday, also said he visited a
site in Niigata Prefecture where some of the abductees were believed kidnapped.
Meanwhile, Nakasone praised the rapporteur for his work so far and stressed
Japan's hopes that Pyongyang will tackle the issue of human rights seriously
and enable Muntarbhorn to visit North Korea to investigate the situation, the
officials said.
He was also skedul to exchange views with Kyoko Nakayama, special adviser to
Prime Minister Taro Aso in charge of the abduction issue, and with some
relatives of the abductees who remain missing.
Muntarbhorn is on his fourth such visit to Japan following trips in February
2005, December 2006 and January 2008.
In his report on human rights abuses in North Korea presented to the U.N.
General Assembly's third committee last October, the rapporteur outlined a
series of steps Pyongyang should take in order to improve its situation,
including ending punishment for asylum seekers and doing its utmost to solve
abduction issues.
==Kyodo
2009-01-

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