A Japanese woman famously kidnapped more than three decades ago by North Korea at the age of 13 is still alive, according to new reports. Photographs are on display of Yokota’s life after her 1977 abduction by North Korean spies, as she grew from a teenager into an adult imprisoned behind the reclusive regime’s wall of secrecy.
According to a website "the Mainichi Daily News, the Japanese government obtained data on Pyongyang residents nearly a year ago that included information related to a woman whose birthday and other attributes were identical to those of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, government and ruling coalition sources said Thursday.
In 2002, North Korea admitted that she and others had been abducted, but claimed that she had committed suicide on March 13, 1994. However, Park Sun-young, a member of South Korea's opposition Liberty Forward Party, told media that a North Korean defector has made a videotaped testimony confirming that Ms Yokota is still alive.
Just few days ago, a South Korean magazine, Weekly Chosun, stated that a 2005 directory of Pyongyang residents listed a woman, named Kim Eun Gong, with the same birth date as Yokota. The directory gave Kim's spouse's name as Kim Yong Nam, a South Korean abductee who was previously reported to have married Yokota.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda intends to demand that North Korea reinvestigate the whereabouts of abductees who Pyongyang says have died or never entered the country, including Yokota, the sources said.
According to a website "the Mainichi Daily News, the Japanese government obtained data on Pyongyang residents nearly a year ago that included information related to a woman whose birthday and other attributes were identical to those of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, government and ruling coalition sources said Thursday.
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| Sakie Yokota, mother of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted to North Korean in 1977, shows a portrait of her daughter. |
In 2002, North Korea admitted that she and others had been abducted, but claimed that she had committed suicide on March 13, 1994. However, Park Sun-young, a member of South Korea's opposition Liberty Forward Party, told media that a North Korean defector has made a videotaped testimony confirming that Ms Yokota is still alive.
Just few days ago, a South Korean magazine, Weekly Chosun, stated that a 2005 directory of Pyongyang residents listed a woman, named Kim Eun Gong, with the same birth date as Yokota. The directory gave Kim's spouse's name as Kim Yong Nam, a South Korean abductee who was previously reported to have married Yokota.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda intends to demand that North Korea reinvestigate the whereabouts of abductees who Pyongyang says have died or never entered the country, including Yokota, the sources said.
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