Photo Thought to Be of Japanese Abductee Provided to Japan Govt

Seoul, Sept. 27 (Jiji Press)--A group of families of South Korean citizens abducted to the North provided a photo of a woman probably a Japanese abductee, taken on her wedding day, to the Japanese government on Wednesday. Officials from the Japanese Foreign Ministry visited the office of the Abductees' Family Union in Seoul and took away the black and white photo thought to be of Kyoko Matsumoto, the abductee from the western Japan prefecture of Tottori, after asking questions including on how the picture was obtained, Choi Sung-Yong, the head of the group, said. If Tokyo's investigation confirms the woman in the photo as Matsumoto, who was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1977 when she was 29, Choi said that he was happy to cooperate and ask the person who provided the group with the picture for further details. While declining to elaborate, Choi told reporters that he received the photo from a person familiar with the abduction issue in Pyongyang four months ago. On Matsumoto's current whereabouts, Choi previously said that she was admitted to a hospital in the North Korean capital. There is information that Matsumoto is now under surveillance at a facility in Kaechon, northeast of Pyongyang, Choi said in the latest interview. END