Japanese Press to Meet Husband of Abductee Megumi
The husband of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota will meet with Japanese press in Pyongyang on Thursday, North Korean government officials said Tuesday.
Kim Young Nam, a South Korean believed to have been abducted by North Korea 28 years ago, will be among the people and sites that the Japanese media will meet during their five-day stay in the North Korean capital, according to reports by the Japanese news agency Kyodo news, which is among the selected press invited to the reclusive country.
The visit, which began on Tuesday, will include the site of Yokota’s former residence and the crematory where North Korea claims she was cremated.
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Megumi Yokota was abducted by North Korea in 1977 at the age of 13 off the shores of Niigata, Japan. Her parents have been advocating for her and other abductees’ release for nearly thirty years and have refused to believe North Korea’s claims that Megumi committed suicide in 1994.
Despite the Yokotas’ and Japan’s refusal to believe that Megumi is dead, Megumi’s husband backed North Korea’s claim that she committed suicide after battling with depression during a press conference at the North Korean resort last Thursday. Moreover, Kim denied that he was abducted by North Korea but instead said that he was saved by the country’s ship.
North Korea has been called the world’s worst human rights violator and was recommended by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to be re-designated as a country of particular concern in May for its government’s engagement in “systematic and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
